Eat Me
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: AU/AH. Triplets Katherine, Elena, and Amara Pierce were looking forward to a memorable senior year. Then everything became a downward spiral. Katherine develops an eating disorder, Elena becomes pregnant at eighteen, and Amara enters the dangerous, new world of boarding school. What else can go wrong? Kalijah. Delena. Simara.
1. Senior Year

**Senior Year**

Mornings at the Pierces home in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia was hardly ever quiet. Especially with three teenage girls, triplets by chance and the only ones in the little town. The girls Katherine, Elena, and Amara Pierce hardly did anything without at least one other sister. They had a strong, sisterly bond even though they were all so different.

Katherine tended to be sassy, outspoken, and bossy (since she was the oldest by three minutes.) Next came Elena who was caring, empathetic, and the natural girl next door, the youngest of the girls (by fifteen minutes) was Amara who was the sweeter and shyer of the three, a natural "goody two shoes" as Katherine often teased her by calling her that.

The three girls had done everything together, but now this year was different. This was their senior year and each girl was trying to break out of the triplet shell and they had started as soon as they turned eighteen years old this past June 5th.

Katherine had just be nominated as captain of the cheerleading squad, was trying to maintain a long distance relationship with her boyfriend Elijah Mikaelson who was at college, and Katherine wanted to become a model right after high school.

Elena had just celebrated her two year anniversary with her (secret) boyfriend and Mystic Falls' bad boy Damon Salvatore, couldn't wait for college, and was planning of being the next Miss Mystic Falls.

Amara had just be accepted to a small, exclusive private boarding school in the outskirts of Easton, Connecticut that she had been trying to get into since her sophomore year and was planning on becoming a writer and hopefully getting over her shyness.

Yes, this was a new year. And change was just around the corner.

* * *

Katherine Pierce's alarm clock rang at exactly 6: 00 AM, but instead of playing the horrible bell sound it usually played, it played the newest Katy Perry song which helped tone down Katherine's annoyance just a little.

She sat up and smiled. Senior year. Today was the first day of senior year. One more year of high school and she would be free, free! She also remembered with a pang that this would be the first time in three years that she and her boyfriend of two years Elijah Mikaelson wouldn't be in the same school.

Katherine and Elijah had started dating when Katherine was a sophomore and Elijah was a junior, but now Elijah was a freshman at Whitmore College which was forty five minute away and which meant sadly that she and Elijah would only be seeing each other on the weekends.

Katherine got out of her bed and went towards Elena's bedroom, she wasn't surprised when she saw that Elena's bed was empty. All summer long while their parents got drunk on wine after dinner Elena had sneaked out of the house (by climbing down her window and using a pair of removable stairs) to sleep over at Damon Salvatore's house.

Katherine was amazed that her sister hadn't gotten caught yet. She was even more surprise that goody-goody, Miss Perfect Elena would even fall in love with the bad boy that was Damon Salvatore.

It was no secret that her parents as well as most of the parents in Mystic Falls despised Damon Salvatore for his car, his love of whisky, and his leather jacket. Katherine knew that her parents would have a heart attack if they knew that their sweet, innocent daughter had been dating Damon in secret for the past two years and that neither Amara nor Katherine had uttered a peep.

Katherine knew that at some point her parents had been afraid that she was going to end up with Damon and that they had been more than relieved when Katherine started dating the responsible Elijah instead.

Katherine went back to her bedroom and grabbed her red and black cheerleading uniform. She smirked she was the captain now. She was basically queen.

* * *

"Damon, stop!" Elena burst into giggles as her boyfriend, Damon Salvatore started kissing her neck resulting in Elena bursting into giggles. She didn't know why but every time she was with Damon she felt even more in love with him. Even though they had been dating secretly for the past two years behind her parents back with only her sisters and a few friends knowing Elena still got butterflies in her stomach whenever she was around Damon. "My parents are going to see us."

She had spent the night with Damon again in his parents' empty house and she was still dressed in her cute little baby doll top and shorts (that she had stolen from Katherine) and her brown hair was rumpled. She only had an hour until school started and her parents were probably awake, not to mention that Katherine was probably hogging the shower.

"Now they won't." Damon said as he pushed back a piece of dark hair. "They are probably still asleep."

Damon had drove Elena home in his vintage blue Chevrolet 1969 Camaro. His favorite car.

"I love you, Damon." She murmured.

"I love you too." Damon said as he kissed the tip of her nose. "See you in English."

* * *

Miles away in the outskirts of Easton, Connecticut Amara Pierce was following a short, chubby woman that reminded her of Mrs. Doubtfire. She couldn't believe that she was actually here walking the halls of Abbey Mount Academy one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the United States on a scholarship. Amara had always dreamed of this and now she was finally here. Being here would help her achieve her dreams.

Amara wanted to be a writer and this school had one of the best writing programs in the East Coast. Her parents had dropped her off last night and now her "house mother" Mrs. Swelling was showing her to her room and her roommate.

"I shouldn't have to tell you that drinking, swearing, smoking, drugs or any other inappropriate behavior isn't allowed Miss Pierce, do I?" Mrs. Swelling glared at her with her beady eyes.

"N-No." Amara practically jumped. Why was she being treated like a criminal?

"Good." Mrs. Swelling nodded as she opened the door of room 4B in the girls' dormitory. "This will be your room and your roommate Miss Tessa Gold."

Amara raised her head and in front of her stood a pretty, dark hair girl with one of the most wicked smiles that Amara had ever seen.

-End of Chapter One-

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	2. New Changes

**New Changes**

"Katherine!" Elena knocked on the door of the bathroom with her fist. She looked at her watch great she only had about forty minutes to take a shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast before going to school. She didn't want to be late on the first day of senior year. "Quick hogging the bathroom!"

"Chill." Katherine snapped as she exited the shower. She had a purple towel wrapped around her body and her hair was still wet. "I'm done."

"Finally," Elena huffed as she entered the bathroom. "You've been in there for an hour."

"Hey time equals beauty." Katherine gave her a wicked smile. "Besides if you and Damon weren't too busy slobbering over each other, maybe you could have gotten home on time."

Elena turned crimson. "Shut up." She looked over her shoulder

"Oh, please they are still asleep." Katherine rolled her eyes. "Or knowing mom she's probably crying over Amara's baby pictures or something."

Their mom Jenna and their dad, Alaric had become weirdly mopy and depressed the weeks before Amara had left for boarding school.

"I still can't believe they let her go." Elena said balancing on the balls of her feet. "It feels so weird getting ready in the morning without her."

"I know." Even Katherine who usually wasn't so lovey dovey admitted missing her sister. While she and Elena constantly fought, she and Amara usually have a quieter bond no matter how many times Katherine got jealous of Amara getting their parents' praises. "But it's what she wanted. Hopefully she's happy."

It was true, Amara had been wanting to go to Abbey Mount Academy ever since seventh great when two of her favorite authors had admitted that they had gone to school there. Amara's greatest dream was to be a writer, something that Katherine couldn't understand. Amara had pleaded to her parents to let her attend the boarding school and now that she was gone, the house just felt empty.

Katherine returned to her room and saw her neatly pressed cheerleading uniform on her bed along with her pompons. It was tradition for all cheerleaders to go to school wearing their uniforms on the first day and this year Katherine was head cheerleader.

She looked out the window and saw that it was a perfect, slightly windy fall day. Probably a little cold to be wearing a cheerleading skirt and top, but at least she would look good. She had just finished putting on the heart necklace that Elijah had given her for her birthday when her cell phone rang.

Katherine smiled as she sat at the foot of her bed. It was probably Elijah calling to wishing her good luck. But it wasn't Elijah it was an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Yes, is this Miss Katherine Pierce?" said a feminine voice. "I'm Amanda Hamilton from Silvia's modeling agency. I wanted to talk to you about your interview for the agency."

"Yes, this is me, I'm Katherine." Katherine stumbled on her words. Katherine wanted to become a model after high school and she had scheduled an interview at the local modeling agency for a spot. Only twelve models got picked each year and while they started with local magazine adds they could someday work at famous magazines.

She had scheduled it back in May, but hadn't told anyone not even Elijah in case she didn't get in and Jenna and Alaric didn't want their daughter to become a model, but to go to college. The only one that knew was Amara, but she had promised not to tell a soul.

"Are you free this afternoon around six?" Amanda asked. "Markos wants to check out your figure, you have a darling face really."

"Check out my figure?"

"Well, you know how this works sweetheart some women have really pretty faces, but not the right figure that is going to sell things." Amanda said sweetly. "So this afternoon at six?"

Katherine nodded. "I'll see you then." She hung up and tried to hold in squeals of excitement. She was going to be a model!

* * *

"Put on a sweater!" Alaric Pierce scolded as Katherine came down wearing her cheerleading skirt and top. "It's cold outside."

"Pain equals beauty." Katherine quoted back as she kissed his cheek. "Good morning, daddy."

"Morning." Alaric said. "But don't blame me when you get a cold."

"I won't." She slid in next to Elena who was dressed in her regular jeans and t shirt. They saw Jenna pull back down a bowl of oatmeal that would have been for Amara.

"Forced habit." Jenna said as she pulled back the oatmeal. "So you girls excited for the first day of school?"

"No." both girls snorted. Kids only got excited when they were entering a new school or really small to know better. Both girls just wanted to graduate already

Jenna sighed. "You two could learn from your sister. Elena, honey don't forget that Grandma Sommers is coming over this afternoon to help you practice for your Miss Mystic Falls interview."

Elena groaned. "Mom, that's two months away."

"It's not too early for perfection. It's just one afternoon and you girls can go to the bonfire afterwards." Jenna and Grandma Miranda Sommers had been Miss Mystic Falls and they desperately wanted Elena to become one too since Amara was too shy to join and Katherine thought it was for losers. So for the past year Elena's life had consisted of fake interviews, hand waves, and looking at hair and dresses. It was a nightmare.

"Fine." Katherine said sarcastically. "Mom, I'm going to be a little late for dinner you know how cheerleading tryouts can be."

"Don't I know it, Captain?" Jenna winked. "Do you want me to pack you some lunch?"

"Nope, I'll get a snack." She said. How could Katherine even think about eating when someone was going to be examining her to see if she had the right body type? She knew she was curvy, but was that a bad thing?

* * *

"My parents are driving me nuts and Katherine is running a close second." Elena huffed at Damon as she gave him a quick kiss and got into the blue car.

"Morning." Damon smirked. "Again, so Amara was lucky to leave I guess."

"Maybe." She joked. "It's just sometimes the house feels too small for all three of us and my family is driving me insane with the whole Miss Mystic Falls."

"Do you need an escort, my lady?" Damon half joked. He had been hinting for weeks that he would be a good partner.

Elena sighed. "You know I would love it if you were my partner but my parents would freak."

Damon's jaw tighten. "Why can't we tell them?"

"Because." Elena said, "They wouldn't understand and they will try to keep up apart when I'm still living at their house. Just one more year and we can be together for good."

-End of Chapter Two-


	3. Problems

**Problems**

Amara had a feeling that her new roommate Tessa hated her, as soon as Mrs. Swelling had left she had dropped the fake smile and went back to her I-pod ignoring Amara completely. Amara sucked in her cheeks. She had, had this problem before she was just too shy and not clever enough to make friends like her sisters.

She shook her head. No she promised herself that she would become more confident. "Hello, she said. "I'm Amara Pierce, I'm new."

"I know you're new, I had this room to myself."

Amara flinched.

Tessa sighed. "Sorry, I'm used to having a single." She looked at her. "Where are you from?"

"A little town called Mystic Falls in Virginia."

"Wow, a little country girl." Tessa said. "I'm from New York."

"That's great." She said politely as she started taking out family photos, her laptop, and raggedy purple quilt that her mom had made for her as a baby. "So is this your first year here?"

"Fourth. Senior." She cocked an eyebrow. "Whoa, are those your sisters?" she pointed to the picture.

"Yes," she said proudly. "I'm a triplet."

"That must suck. Always sharing the spotlight." Tessa blurted out. "I'm glad that I'm an only child. Do you have a boyfriend?"

She shook her head.

"Figures you look shy, it looks like you've never been kissed. Well, have you?"

Amara ignored the question as she grabbed a piece of paper from her bag. "I have to go, I have a meeting with the counselor." Before Tessa could even reply Amara left the dorm room and was walking across campus. That was weird, Tessa could be . . . intense.

She looked at the slip of paper the counselor had given her where the meeting was taking place room 415. Amara suddenly felt a sharp pain against her head.

"Crap, Silas!" she heard a voice say. A pretty blond girl helped her up. "I'm sorry, my brother can be a jackass."

"I'm fine." Amara said lamely as she rubbed the side of her head.

She frowned. "Are you sure that you don't need to go to the nurse?" she asked. "I'm Lexi. Lexi Branson, Silas get your ass over here."

"I'm fine." Amara said dazedly as a handsome boy with dark hair came jogging towards her. "Really. I'm Amara Pierce."

"Sorry about that." The guy said annoyed. Not sounding very sorry at all. "You should watch where you're going."

"The room I need to go to is this way." Amara said annoyed.

"No, the 400 building is all the way across campus." Silas took the paper from her.

"You better take her Silas."

"Why should I take her?"

"Because Mr. Miller can be a real jerk when your late." She turned back to Amara. "My brother will take you." She said again to emphasize.

Silas rolled his eyes as he turned back towards her. "Fine, let's go stop gawking."

* * *

"You're not still mad are you?" Elena asked as Damon stopped his car a block before the Gilbert house where he always did. Damon had been silently moody this whole time which Elena knew he did when he was upset. "About not being my date for the Miss Mystic Falls?"

"No, why should I be upset that another guy is dancing with you." Damon moodily asked.

Elena gave a little laugh. "That other guy will probably be my cousin Jeremy." She murmured as she placed a hand over his. "I love you, Damon you do know that right."

Damon softened. "I love you too." He kissed her. "Now go to your meeting before your grandmother comes hit us both with her walking stick."

Elena gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I love you."

Damon rubbed an index finger across her cheek. "I love you too."

Elena opened the car door and as soon as she did she frowned. She felt strangely dizzy. She stumbled on her legs as she grasped the car door. Another wave of dizziness hit her.

"Elena." Damon quickly went over to the other side and helped her out. "I got you, are you ok?"

Elena nodded. "Just a little dizzy spell I'm fine, it's probably the heat or something."

Damon was still frowning. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine." She insisted again. "Really." She gave Damon a reassuring smile as she walked back towards her house. She was just opening the door when another wave of dizziness hit her. "What the hell?" she murmured.

"Elena?" Miranda asked. "Is that you? Grandma Sommers is here hurry."

Elena clutched her sweater as she rested her back against the door, trying to stop her beating heart. What had happened? She felt sick. "Coming."

* * *

Katherine was twitching as she sat in the cold, metal chair at Silvia's Modeling Agency for her interview. She was still dressed in her cheerleading uniform, tryouts had ran late and Katherine had barely managed to get into the car to arrive on time.

She moved her foot nervously, Katherine had never lack confidence before she had always been the Queen Bee, the It Girl she shouldn't feel nervous, but she was. She was very nervous. She looked at the clock, any day now.

Finally the door opened and out came a tall, thin woman wearing a black suit who had beautiful make up and her blond hair was cut short around her oval shape face. "You must be Miss Katherine Pierce." She said in a sweet tone. "I'm Amanda Hamilton I believe I called you this morning."

Katherine stood up and shook her head as she confidently shook the woman's hand. "You did, I'm ready for my close up."

"Finally a girl with actual excitement," Amanda said as she pointed to the hallway. "Come this way darling, come." She led Katherine through a long hallway that was covered with magazine photos each girl more beautiful than the next. "As I told you Markos will see you first, you have nothing to worry."

She led Katherine to an all-white room where a tall, thin male with curly black hair greeted her. "Ah, so this is our lovely, aspiring model." He kissed her cheek. "Nice to meet you, I'm Markos."

"Katherine." Katherine said.

"Markos is very talented." Amanda said putting a hand on Markos. "Are you ready?"

Katherine nodded as Markos inspected her, she felt her proud smile leave her lips as Markos continued looking at her without not really saying anything.

"Turn around."

Katherine did as she was told.

"You have a gorgeous face and beautiful hair." Markos said gently. "Your body could use some modifications though."

"What kind of modifications?" Katherine forced herself to ask. What was wrong with her body? Elijah had never complained about it, but Elijah was too nice, maybe she was horrible looking.

"It's not that bad." He pointed to her hip. "A little too much flesh at the side, your stomach is too soft, thighs too close together, and your breasts and bottoms are far too . . . curvy."

Katherine felt her lip wobbling, but she forced herself not to cry.

"It's not that bad darling," Markos assured her as he put a hand around her shoulder.

Amada nodded. "Not bad at all, with an exercise routine, some tips, and a diet you will be Gisele material."

Katherine raised a pointed gaze. "You think so?"

"Honey, we're sure of it." Markos said. "Now remember my word of advice: nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

-End of Chapter Three-

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	4. Raining Miseries

**Raining Miseries**

Elena was sitting in the dining room table between Jenna and Grandma Sommers while a pile of old Miss Mystic Falls application, local community service groups, and pictures of dresses and hairstyles laid in front of her.

It seemed crazy to Elena how committed her grandmother and mother were to some silly, old tradition, but since it was so important to them in most of the meetings, Elena at least tried to act excited and like she cared, but this afternoon however she couldn't even bring herself to act like she cared.

Elena didn't care what kind of dress she wore or if she should take dancing lessons, all she wanted to do at this precise moment was to go crawl into bed and listen to music. She didn't know why she was feeling so sick. Elena was usually healthy, but ever since this morning she had been feeling kind of funny.

She had thought at first that it had been usual school nerves, but obviously they weren't. She felt dizzy and her stomach was upset, it was the same kind of feelings she got when she had the stomach flu.

"Elena, honey are you ok?" Jenna asked as she plucked out of the pile the picture of a girl wearing a flamingo pink, fluffy dress that made her look like a walking cotton candy. "You look pale."

"Not really." Elena said weakly. "I'm feeling kind of tired, today was exhausting."

Jenna exchanged looks with grandma Sommers. "You're right dear, today was a tiring day. Perhaps we should save this for another day?"

Grandma Sommers gave an exaggerated sigh. "Oh, all right but we can't be post poning it, Miss Mystic Falls is just around the corner."

"It's still a few months off," Elena said irritably as she walked up the stairs. She hated being rude to her family, but sometimes they could be so annoying and controlling especially about Founding Family stuff like this.

Grateful, Elena plopped on her bed and caressed her cheek against the pillow. She wished that she could be with Damon right now. Her brown eyes landed on her calendar that was on her night table, she couldn't help but notice that there was a red dot on the fourth of September, she frowned that had been almost two weeks ago.

She frowned, her period was almost two weeks late, but it was never late usually. She gulped slightly remembering all the passionate summer nights that she and Damon had spent together when his parents weren't home.

What if they had an accident? Most of the time they weren't really careful even though both of them knew better. Elena clutched the calendar close to her chest as she gulped, she no longer felt sick, she felt downright frightened.

* * *

"So Lexi is your sister?" Amara asked politely even though Lexi had already confirmed it, most of all she just wanted to fill in the awkward void as Silas led her to Mr. Miller's office. It was obvious that he had only taken her because Lexi had told him too and because he had felt slightly guilty for hitting her with a soccer ball.

"Yep." Silas said not even bothering to look at her. "She's my twin."

"I have a twin too." Amara blubbered excitedly. "Well, we're triplets."

"Really?" Silas raised an eyebrow. "Triplets, those are rare, are your sisters here?"

"No, they are back home in Mystic Falls." Amara said. "I'm on a scholarship, my sisters are named Elena and Katherine, they-"

"I didn't really ask for the whole life story." Silas interrupted rudely as they stopped in Mr. Miller's office. "Well here it is."

"Um, thank you." She said, but Silas had already began walking away not even bothering to hear her thanks. "Jerk!" she murmured under her breath as she knocked on the door.

"Come on in," a balding man answered the door. "I've been expecting you Miss Pierce sit down."

"Thank you." Amara said, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I like to meet all my bright, scholarship students." Mr. Miller smiled as he handed her a piece of paper. "Here is your schedule all though we do have a small problem. You haven't signed up for an extracurricular activity."

Amara looked up, she had been slightly panicking at the list of AP classes she was expected to go through, she was smart, but not that smart. "I did sign up for one the Writer's Workshop."

"No, I mean a sport activity." Mr. Miller corrected. "You need to participate in a sport to keep your scholarship, we have a number of them here at campus, soccer, golf, volleyball-"

Mr. Miller kept going on, but she didn't hear him. A sport, was he serious? A three year old could kick a ball better than Amara and she didn't really work great as a team. She gulped, perhaps this hadn't been the best idea after all.

* * *

Katherine's mind was all over the place as she walked up the stairs. Was Markos and Amanda right? Was she too fat and curvy for the modeling world? Katherine had always wanted to be a model ever since she was six years old now her dream was threatening to crumble right in front of her eyes because she was a little overweight at least according to Markos.

She stopped short when she saw Elena on her bed looking as if she was going to burst into tears.

"Are you ok?" she asked her.

"Not really." Elena replied in a chalky voice. "I'm late."

"Late? Late for what?"

Elena showed her the calendar. "Late for my period."

Katherine quickly put the pieces together, Damon and Elena had been spending quite a few nights together and Damon wasn't exactly the definition of responsible. "Oh, Elena do you think-"

Elena bit her lip, the tears were threatening to spill. "I don't know, maybe. Oh, Kat I'm so stupid, if I really am, well what am I going to do?"

Katherine did something she rarely did, she hugged her sister tightly. "It's ok, Elena don't cry. It's going to be ok, everything will work out."

* * *

"Katherine?"

Katherine laid back on her bed and smiled when she heard Elijah's voice. His voice made Katherine relax almost instantly, it was like his special power and it made Katherine feel like Elijah was only a few blocks away and not miles away at Whitmore college.

"Yeah, it's me, how was your day?" she wished that she could be there with him, he could run his fingers through her curls and make her feel special.

"All right, a little hectic, but all right." Elijah smiled. "And how was yours, Miss Head Cheerleader?"

"A little on the downside, but hearing your voice just made my day."

"What's wrong Katherine?" Elijah asked concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Katherine clutched her old stuffed animal, Mr. Bunny closed to her chest. "Elijah, can I ask you something, but reply honestly."

"All right." Elijah sounded amused.

"Do you think I'm fat? Do you like my body?" she bit her lip. Even though they had been dating for a while, Katherine and Elijah had never had sex with the exception of a few naughty teasing, but he always called her "lovely" and "beautiful" maybe he was lying?

"Katherine I think you're beautiful." Elijah said. "Who put such ideas in your head?"

Katherine forced a laugh. "No one, I just needed a reassurance all girls do, I guess." She hated being one of those pathetic girls that needed to have a guy's approval for everything.

"Well, you're beautiful, you're the most beautiful girl in the world." Elijah assured her. "Sweet dreams, Katherine."

-End of Chapter Four-


	5. Avoid

**Avoid**

Two weeks later after Elijah's hectic college life had settled down, Elijah invited Katherine out to dinner. That was one of the things that Katherine loved most about Elijah he could be sweet, considerate, gentlemanly, and hot all at the same time.

Katherine had been staring at herself in the mirror when Jenna had told her that Elijah was waiting. She had bought a short, red dress and paired it off with black kitten heels that added the extra sexy that Katherine needed.

She walked down the stairs and immediately threw herself in Elijah's arms when she saw him. "You came!" he smelled like he always did a mix of mint and some other things that Katherine couldn't quite guess, it was scent of the cologne that Katherine had given him for his birthday.

"Of course I would come, silly." He said as he gave her a small, demurely kiss because Jenna was still looking at them with proud mom eyes. "I'll bring her back by eleven, Mrs. Pierce."

Jenna nodded as she closed the door behind them. "Be safe."

Now that they were in a parent free zone, Elijah gave her a deeper kiss, his hands around her waist. "Have I told you how beautiful you look in that dress?"

"No, you should." Katherine said half teasing herself, truthfully she was grateful for the reassurance. When she had bought the dress she had thought it hadn't looked that good, but Elijah's compliment had taken away all of the negative vibe.

So what if she wasn't a size zero? If Elijah said that she looked good, then she looked damned fine.

"Fine, you look incredibly sexy." Elijah started kissing her neck while slowly fondling her thigh.

"Parent zone." Katherine whispered back, she wouldn't put it past Jenna to be sneaking peeks through the window.

Elijah gave her a wicked smile. "Oh, right."

* * *

"Where did you two lovebirds go last night?" Rebekah Mikaelson, Katherine's best friend and Elijah's little sister ask as both she and Katherine exited the car. Rebekah was also a cheerleader and the reason that she and Elijah had started dating in the first place, she was practically their matchmaker.

"The Fountain." She said mentioning the name of a well-known restaurant in town. Elijah loved to spoil her. Katherine had been experiencing so much lovey-dovey feelings last night that she could hardly remember the conversations that they had.

Katherine missed having him right around the corner, but Katherine had been good last night she had ordered a simple salad and refuses dessert for herself and had only taken a nibble of a piece of Elijah's cheesecake, but only because he insisted.

Rebekah rolled her eyes, playfully. "Fancy." She let out a squeal as she grasped Katherine's arm. "There's Stefan Fell, my god have you ever seen someone some gorgeous."

Katherine turned in the direction that Rebekah was practically drooling. It was no secret that Rebekah had a crush on the green eyed, brown hair new boy Stefan Fell.

He was just getting out of his car and gave a small nod towards Rebekah and Katherine.

"He nodded at me." Rebekah practically fainted, she wondered how her friend could be so boy crazy.

"Rebekah, chill."

"Easy for you to say, you already have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, whose is miles away." Her gaze went towards where Stefan had left. "Isn't Stefan on the cross country team?"

"Yeah." Rebekah said confused. "Why?"

She tightened her grip on her purse. "No reason."

* * *

"Coast clear." Caroline Forbes whispered to Elena. After school they had drove towards a pharmacy ten miles away from Mystic Falls so that they wouldn't be recognize. Katherine and Caroling were the only ones that knew that Elena might be pregnant.

Elena held back a giggle. "Caroline, we're not stealing anything."

Caroline shrugged. "I'm staying in character. You get the tests, I'll make sure that no one we know is here." Elena nodded, grateful as she walked towards the aisle. She stopped short when she saw the aisle where the pregnancy tests were.

There were dozens of them as Elena picked up six random boxes, she needed to make sure that she wasn't pregnant. She bit her lip as her hand flew to her still flat stomach. "Please don't let there be a baby in here. Please, I'm not ready."

* * *

"We meet again." Amara raised her head up and saw Lexi smiling. She had been going over the lists of sports offered in the dorm's common room, but she couldn't think of one that she liked. Amara stank at sports, there was no other way around it. "What are you doing?"

"I need to pick a sport to keep my scholarship." She sighed. "And I need to decide."

"How about swimming?" Lexi asked. "Or golf?"

"Tried, all the spaces are full." She handed her a pink paper. "I could only choose from these left."

Lexi scanned over the list. "How about soccer? I can help you practice."

Amara bit her lip. "I don't know-"

"I actually came to talk to you about your roommate, Tessa." Lexi interrupted.

Amara raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she had been avoiding Tessa.

"Yeah, not to spread gossip." Lexi's face hardened. "Long story short she can be really manipulate and selfish, just please be careful."

Amara nodded. "I will."

Amara's phone started ringing. "Let me answer that." It was a text message, she opened it and held back her breath. No, it couldn't be. Not Elena.

Lexi frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that." Amara said weakly. There was a text from her sister, Elena. It simply said: I'm pregnant.

-End of Chapter Five-


	6. Honesty

**Honesty**

Katherine's eyes opened the minute that the sun hit her face, another morning, another goal which meant that she was closer of achieving her dream and proving Amanda and Markos wrong. It had been five days since Katherine had received the horrid news and she knew that she was achieving something.

She hadn't lost that much weight yet, but at least she was feeling lighter. She was scheduling in more cheerleading practices and focused more on playing with her food than eating it. She had thought it would be hard and that she would have to be explain to people, but so far no one had noticed and she was in the clear.

She sat up and Katherine realize immediately that something was wrong, she had woken up with a pounding headache and a slight dizzy feel. "Snap out of it, Pierce." She told herself. "You can't afford to get sick."

She dressed quickly in a short dark blue skirt and white blouse and she was just putting on her mascara when Elena came into the room. Katherine put the mascara wand down noticing that something was wrong. She knew that her sister wasn't as fashion forward as her, but usually she tried. Right now, she looked like she had just rolled out of bed.

She was wearing an old pair of jeans and a raggedy red sweater, her usual straight hair was in a messy bun and her eyes were puffy. "What's wrong, Elena?"

"Can I talk to you?" Elena asked in a squeaky voice that usually meant that she was trying hard not to cry. Katherine felt a chill go down her spine. She nodded as Elena closed the door.

"Sit," Katherine pointed to the edge of her bed. "Now tell me what happened and don't cry because then I won't be able to understand you."

"I'm pregnant." She squeaked, her body shaking. "Caroline and I went to buy pregnancy tests and I did all of them and I'm pregnant Katherine."

"Didn't you guys used a condom?" Katherine blurted out, wondering how her smart sister could be so stupid. She knew Elena wasn't on the pill.

"Not always." Elena hiccupped. "I'm guessing I'm only a few weeks pregnant, I've been getting morning sickness and stuff-"

"Does Damon know?"

She shook her head.

"Elena, you need to tell him."

"That's what Amara said." Elena sounded almost bitter. "I texted her and that's how she replied, but you don't understand Kat-I can't tell him."

"Elena, you need to tell him." Katherine said firmly. "This is his responsibility too and once you tell him you need to tell Mom and Dad and probably his parents too."

Elena turned pale. "No, I can't Mom and Dad will kill me and Damon's parents barely care about him, I doubt they will care about my baby, no Katherine I can't . . . I was so stupid-"

"It's going to be ok, Elena. Don't cry." She handed her a tissue. "Look, we're going to be late for school, but calm down. We'll figure something out, now go put some makeup on before Mom asks why you've been crying."

Elena nodded as she exited Katherine's room. Katherine grabbed her purse, a baby what the hell? Imagining Elena with a baby was like imaging Katherine being shy, it just didn't seem possible. She and Amara were going to be aunts and Elena was going to be a mother.

She walked down the stairs and almost bumped into Jenna. "Sorry, mom."

"It's ok, sweetie." She kissed her cheek. "Breakfast is on the table-"

"Actually, I'm late mom," Katherine said in fake hurry. "Rebekah and I are supposed to try out new cheering routines before class-"

"But what about breakfast?"

"I'll eat later." She lied as she hurried out the door.

* * *

Katherine felt beyond hungry once the lunch bell rang at this precise moment she would beg for food if she had too, she was starving. The cafeteria smelled of oatmeal cookies, mac and cheese, and pizza.

"So for Elijah's party I think we should have a theme." Rebekah said as she and Katherine slipped their trays down the lunch line. Elijah's birthday was in a few weeks and the girls had decided to throw him a surprise party.

"A theme?" Katherine snorted as she grabbed a plate of macaroni and cheese and a side salad. "Elijah doesn't do themes."

"Oh, come on a theme might be fun." She said. "Like Hawaiian or the 20's?"

"Yeah, no."

Rebekah rolled her eyes as they walked towards their lunch table. "You're no fun."

They sat down and Katherine stared hungrily at her food, she was starving. She grabbed her fork and immediately jabbed it into the mac and cheese.

"Well, someone is hungry." Rebekah teased lightly.

Something seemed to snap inside of Katherine, the cheese suddenly felt slimy inside her mouth, in fact the whole smell wanted to make her throw up. She forced herself to swallow once last bite, before she pushed the tray away guiltily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She lied. "I think the cheese is bad."

* * *

Amara was close to having a mental breakdown she was sure of it. Today was the end of her first week of classes and she already felt like she was drowning in homework. It seemed every teacher she had required a long reading list, even longer essays, or sets of equations.

To make matters worse, she had taken Lexi's advice and signed up for soccer which Amara felt was the biggest mistake of all. Her first practice was tomorrow, so she had been practicing in an empty field so that she didn't make a fool of herself, but she hadn't kicked the ball inside the net once and she was growing frustrated.

"What are you doing?"

She turned around and flushed, great now Silas had seen what a pathetic soccer player she was. "Practicing. I'm on the soccer team."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "You?"

"Yes, me." She replied annoyed. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because you haven't be able to make a goal for the past half an hour."

"Have you've been spying on me?" she asked furiously.

"Not spying, simply observing." He said lazily. "I can give you a few pointers if you want."

Amara was about to decline, but she was in no position too. "All right."

So for the next half hour a slightly frustrating and almost yelling Silas gave Amara a few pointers that mostly involved how to kick, dribble, and pass a soccer ball. By the end of the lesson Amara had barely managed to score a goal.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I did it."

Silas shrugged. "Well, it wasn't that horrible, see you."

"Silas, wait. Thank you." Because besides of his smug attitude he had tried to help her.

Silas nodded and without another word he left Amara in the empty soccer field.

-End of Chapter Six-


	7. Love Bites

**Love Bites**

"Elena Gilbert," Damon slightly lifted Elena into his arms and spinned her around slightly after their lunch period. Elena had been meaning to tell him the "baby news" during lunch, but she had decided to do it a more private place and had texted him to meet her in the park across the street after their lunch period. "Now why would the future Miss Mystic Falls do something as naughty as ditch her math class."

Elena tried to smile, but her bottom lip quivered and she was ready to burst into tears even though she hadn't said the words yet. A baby at eighteen that was definitely not in her plans.

"I need to tell you something." She said quietly as he put her down. "It's important."

The smile faded from Damon's lips and he pulled back her hair. "What's wrong baby?"

The tears stung Elena's eyes and she wanted to tell him, she really did, but even though she opened her mouth nothing refused to come out. Her entire body shook with incoming tears.

"Baby, Elena look at me," Damon positioned Elena so that he would face her. "Elena, you need to tell me what's making you so upset, I'm sure it's not that bad."

"But it is," Elena choked out. "It is that bad, Damon."

Damon looked confused.

Elena took a deep breath and whispered. "I'm pregnant."

At first Damon didn't offer a reaction, he simply looked confused, but soon the realization settled in his face and he turned pale. "What? Are you sure? How?"

Elena straightened up as she tried to keep her voice from trembling. "Well, we did spend a lot of nights together during the summer and we weren't always careful…I thought I was just the flu at first, but I took a few pregnancy tests and they came back positive."

He shook his head, his eyes refusing to believe it. "No, no you can't be pregnant, we're in high school, and we're seniors! Elena, we're not ready for a baby!"

"I know," Elena's eyes welled up with tears again. "I'm so sorry."

Damon hugged her tightly. "No, I'm sorry . . . I was the one that messed up, crap . . . We'll get through this Elena I promise."

* * *

Amara was glancing at the small, Hawaiian girl clock that she had installed in her bedroom. She still had ten minutes until she called her sisters. Email was too complicated and boring so they had decided on a three way call, besides she missed hearing her sisters' voices.

"Expecting someone?" Tessa raised an eyebrow, she was on her own bed curling her hair. Even though she and Amara had been roommates for a few days, they had barely even talked to each other, it was clear that Tessa had no interested in getting to know Amara and Amara felt that Tessa was too stuck up.

Amara shrugged as she took out her cell phone from her backpack. "I'm just waiting for my sisters to call me."

"Your sisters," Tessa said slightly. "Likely story."

Amara turned to look at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Tessa shrugged innocently. "It's just you and Silas were so cozy at the soccer field this afternoon that I thought you were waiting up for him."

"Well, I wasn't." Amara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Had Tessa been spying on them? No, that was too creepy even for Tessa. "We're just friends."

Tessa ignored her response as she grabbed her phone. "Well, I'll give you some privacy so that you can talk to your sisters."

Amara flinched as the door close and she pulled out her phone. She couldn't wait to talk to people that actually liked her.

"Hello?"

"Amara?"

"Katherine?"

"No, it's Elena."

"Geez, Amara I'm Katherine," Katherine said annoyed. "Is everyone ready? God, these three way calls are so complicated."

"I told you IM would be better," Elena grumbled. "By the way, why do we have to use separate phones, your room is across the hallway from mine."

"Because it will be stupid if we talk from the same phone, besides if Mom sees us she'll probably stick around and hear the entire conversation."

"Is Mom there?" Amara asked.

"Huh? No, that was just an example." Katherine was rustling through something. "Hey Amara, you're the smart one of the three, how many calories from fat are in a peanut butter granola bar-"

"Katherine, we didn't come to talk about your food obsessions!" Elena snapped.

"Are you having those pregnancy hormones already, because you're acting like a real bit-"

"Guys!" Amara shouted. "Can we focus, please?"

Her sisters mumbled apologies.

Amara laid back down on her pillow. "Finally, let's talk about Elena first. Are you ok? You sound sick."

"More like cried out," Elena sniffed. "I told Damon today, you can guess how he reacted."

"Oh no did he tell you that he wasn't going to accept the baby?"

"No, it's not that." Elena said softly. "He was a little freaked out, but he's going to support me with the whole baby thing."

"Do Mom and Dad know?"

Katherine clicked her tongue. "No. But when they do find out they are probably going to get a heart attack and roll over and die or at the very least make all of us join a convent."

"Shut up, Katherine!" Elena snarled. "Not all of can have perfect lives like you Miss Head Cheerleader with the college boyfriend!"

"You think my life is perfect?" Katherine sounded upset.

"Well, you're not carrying a baby while you're still a high school student so yes, I think your life is pretty perfect."

"Please don't fight," Amara said. This was not the conversation that she had, had in mind. Her sister were quiet for a moment.

"Sorry," Elena's voice softened. "Tell us about you, Amara boarding school must be exciting."

Katherine giggled. "Are there any hot boys?"

Amara blushed. "Katherine," for some reason her thoughts popped to Silas. "I'm focusing on my studies, I have no time for boys."

"How boring." Katherine smirked. "How's your roommate?"

"She's something. . ." Amara couldn't really explain Tessa. "She makes you look like a saint."

"Well, that's not good," Katherine joked. "Want me to beat her up?"

Amara briefly looked at Tessa's empty bed. "No, I can handle her."

-End of Chapter Seven-

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	8. Love Me

**Love Me**

* * *

Katherine dragged three pictures towards her email that was going to be send to Amanda, it had been four weeks since that horrible day and Katherine wanted to remind them not to forget about her as well, as show the her improvement.

Over the course of four weeks she had lost weight, a few people wouldn't be able to see it, but Katherine could and she was sure that Amanda and Markos would as well. Katherine stared at her pictures. Her waist seemed a little smaller and her thighs weren't as round so that was good, her stomach definitely needed a little bit of toning, but she could fix that.

"Katherine?"

Crap, Jenna. Katherine closed her computer screen down and stared at Jenna sweetly like an innocent deer. "Yes, Mom?"

Jenna didn't seem to notice her nervousness. "Have you noticed anything weird about Elena? She seems to be acting strange."

Of course, she's pregnant, she wanted to sarcastically point out but she didn't. Elena had just become one month and two weeks pregnant and despite the morning sickness she was starting to grow a tiny baby bump that she was hiding with loose cardigans. Both she and Damon had been too cowardly to tell her parents, but Katherine knew that they needed to tell them the truth.

They had already told Damon's parents and they had basically told them that it was their problem, so no help there.

"Strange, no," Katherine lied. "She's probably a little stress, you know school and stuff."

Jenna studied her face. "Are you ok? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, mom god."

Once Jenna left she went into the bathroom and stepped on the scale, Katherine dreaded the annoying ting sound because she didn't know what to expect. It finally stopped at 120 pounds.

Katherine closed her eyes in utter dismay, at 5'7 it was a perfectly healthy weight, but it wasn't good enough to become a model, even her tummy felt snug in her purple and blue pajama pants.

Katherine looked to her side and stared at the toilet seat, she had heard from other girls around school that throwing up really helped loosen the pounds quickly, but Katherine didn't even know how to make herself throw up.

In the movies, she always saw girls stick their fingers down their throats. She grabbed her toothbrush and looked down, trying to force the toothbrush in as much as she could. The pain seemed to be unbearable at first, it felt like someone was strangling her, but she felt herself retching into the toilet bowl. It was not pleasant.

She looked down weakly as saw the remains of the little dinner she ate last night. She had done it.

* * *

She had taught herself to throw up, Katherine knew it was sick, but she felt a little proud of herself in a twisted kind of way as she walked across school, at least now she didn't have to worry about every time she craved something, she even felt lighter.

"Stefan!" she said when she noticed Stefan walking to class. "Hey, you're on the cross country team right?"

"Yeah, why?" Stefan gave her an adorable grin.

"I need a few pointers," she said. "I'm so out of shape, can you train me?"

"Sure." He nodded as he looked at her slim figure. "Next week after school?"

"Perfect."

* * *

This was it, Elena couldn't hide it any longer, and she needed to tell her parents. Her clothes were still fitting, but she could see the outline of a baby bump already forming. She needed to tell them, Damon had already told his parents and they had barely blinked, but she thought that Alaric and Jenna might react differently.

"It's going to be ok, Elena." Damon whispered squeezing her hand. "You'll see."

Elena sincerely doubt it, but she didn't say anything, the front door opened and in came Jenna and Alaric. Their smiles faded when they saw Damon, they knew who he was and his reputation and by the looks on their faces, Elena should have invited the devil instead.

"Elena, hi," there was a strange look on Jenna's face. "Damon?"

"Hi, Mrs. Pierce." Damon said. "Elena and I wanted to talk to you."

"I don't have any idea why," Alaric said tensely.

"Dad, please sit down." Her parents did as they were told and Damon squeezed her hand. "I haven't been completely honest with you, for two years Damon and I have been dating secretly, and I was sneaking out of the house all summer and now . . . I'm pregnant. One month and three weeks exactly and Damon is the father."

Their parents sat completely motionless for a moment, until Alaric suddenly sat up and grabbed Damon by the collar of his shirt. "Son of a-"

"Dad!"

"Alaric!"

Between Elena and Jenna they managed to pull Alaric away.

Jenna's face was pale. "How did this happen, I mean we told you about birth control methods . . . you could have talked to us… you're only eighteen Elena."

"Sneaking behind out backs . . . still in high school . . . my baby is having a baby."

"We're really sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce," Damon said lamely. "Elena and I are going to try and work it out-"

"You're going to try," Alaric laughed harshly. "A baby is on the way pal, there is no room for trying. Get out, both of you, you are no longer welcome here."

"Alaric-"

"No Jenna," Alaric said firmly. "They are adults now, they should be able to handle their own mess's high school graduate or not, all I know is that Elena is no longer going to be living under my roof."

"You're seriously kicking me out?" Elena's voice gave out a painful squeak.

Damon put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, his eyes were angry as well. "Let's go, Elena, come on you can stay at my place."

-End of Chapter Eight-


	9. Disaster Strikes

**Disaster Strikes**

Katherine flinched when she heard the front door close and it took every ounce of willpower that she had not to burst into tears. Her sister was gone. Now there was only 1/3 of a triplet living in the Pierce home.

Katherine had been doing her homework when she had heard the shouts coming from the family room. She couldn't believe that her dad had kicked her out, yes Elena had done some bad things but, come on she was his daughter, couldn't he have some pity.

Didn't they understand that Elena needed her family? She stomped towards the living room where she saw her parents with their gloomy looks on their faces. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded.

"This doesn't concern you, Katherine." Alaric scolded. "Go to your room, please."

"It does concern me," she argued. "Elena is my sister, how could you have kicked her out?"

"Your sister, should have known better," Jenna said tightly. "It was bad enough going out with that boy secretly-"

"That's because both of you are so judgy?" Katherine snapped. "I can't blame her for not wanting to tell you the truth."

"Katherine." Alaric said in a deadly voice. "This doesn't concern you, upstairs now."

Katherine crossed her arms over her chest. "You're making a big mistake and you know it." She was walking upstairs when she felt a dizzy spell, for a moment her vision went black. She grabbed the edge of the stairway and shook her head once as she walked upstairs.

* * *

Katherine was grateful to Elijah when he cut his afternoon classes and came over from Whitmore College to take her out for ice cream to cheer her up instead. "I mean you should have heard them," Katherine complained as they walked inside Sandy's Ice Cream Parlor, she was still dressed in her cheerleading uniform. "They are such hypocrites, I haven't spoken to them all morning."

"Do you think they will get over it?" Elijah mused as he opened the door for her. "Your parents are pretty cool most of the time."

"When they want too," Katherine snorted as they slipped into a booth. "Some other times though they can be real jerks, I just feel so bad for Elena, even Damon. I mean Elena was crying all day at school and I honestly don't think my parents are going to budge."

Elijah patted her hand, at that moment a dark blond waitress greeted them with a smile. "Hello darlings," she opened her notepad. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have the banana spit," Elijah turned towards Katherine. "And you?"

Katherine shook her head. "I'll just have a bite of yours," Elijah looked confused. "I'm full from lunch."

Elijah didn't really looked like he believe her, but didn't say anything. In a few minutes the waitress delivered a large banana split towards Elijah. Katherine licked her lips hungrily as she watched the chocolate sauce and peanuts drip over the cool, sweet ice cream.

Elijah handed her the spoon. "Want a bite?"

She nodded as she took a dainty bite, the ice cream felt wonderful, she couldn't remember when she had tasted something so sweet.

"Do you want more?"

She shook her head. "I'm full. How are your classes?"

"Good, my math teacher is a bit of a hard ass, but he's pretty cool," he threw her a flirtatious smile. "Still, I wished we were still in the same school."

"Or in the same dorm at least." Katherine smirked back. They talked for about an hour, until Katherine stood up. "I should probably head to dinner, otherwise my parents might kick me out."

Elijah gave her a small kiss as they stood in the parking lot. "Don't let this whole thing with your parents and Elena freak you out, it's not under your control."

"She's my sister," she winced. "I'm kind of a part of it."

"Just have fun every once in a while," he wrapped his arms around her hips. She seemed smaller. "Go to the movies with Becks or something and eat popcorn, you're too skinny."

Katherine smiled at what she thought was a compliment. "I will."

* * *

"Ow, Ow," Amara was wincing all the way up to her dorm room, not caring that her hair was messy or that her soccer uniform was covered in grass and dirt. She was more focused over the fact that there was a bruise on her arm (she had tripped) and that her knee was bleeding (one of the girls had accidently kicked her, while practically tumbling her for the ball) so it was safe to say that her first soccer practice sucked.

"There you are," Silas said looking at her, he had been standing outside of her dorm room, listening to music. "How was practice, though I can kind of guess?"

"It was brutal." She sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to hear if by some miracle you managed to actually kick a ball." Amara rolled her eyes. He pulled out a small, green tube. "And I brought this, it's great for bruises."

"Thanks," she opened her dorm room. "Would you like to come in?" Normally boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitory, but no one was around now.

"Um, Tessa isn't there is she?" he grimaced.

She shook her head. She knew that Tessa had violin lessons on Monday afternoons. After that he came in and Amara kicked off her dirty sneakers. Silas started placing the green lotion on her arms and on her legs.

"Did every single girl tumbled you down or something?"

She smiled. "Something like that."

Before they could continue their conversation, the door opened and Tessa came in, she looked startled to see Silas. "I wasn't aware that we had visitors."

"I was just leaving." Silas said coldly, he turned to Amara. "Later."

When the door closed, Tessa turned to Amara. "Well aren't you an innocent looking snake, I should have known that no matter how innocent the snakes bite."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, let's no play dumb," Tessa said. "It's simple, you're interested in Silas and Silas for some strange reason is interest in you, the problem is I don't want your hands anywhere near him."

"I think Silas can decided for himself," Amara said an edge to her voice.

"Perhaps," Tessa said. "The thing is I don't want you near him, and if see you ever even asking him for a pencil I will rip you into shreds, am I making myself clear?"

-End of Chapter Nine-

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	10. Respect Me

**Respect Me**

_A few weeks later. . ._

"Ugh! I hate this!" Elena Gilbert said to no one in particular, especially since she was alone in Damon's room. Well, she guessed it was her room now too, since she had been living there for the past few weeks.

After her parents had kicked her out, she had taken residency at Damon's house, more specifically in Damon's room. If his parents saw anything strange about that, they didn't comment. They had barely acknowledge Elena, even though she had tried to tell them how sorry she was. It was clear that they didn't care and besides they spend more time outside that in their own house.

A lot had changed in the past few weeks. For one both she and Damon had gotten jobs in order to start saving for the baby. Damon worked as a mechanic's aid fixing cars and motorcycles, while Elena had gotten a job at a small market a few blocks away from Damon's house as a cashier.

Neither of their jobs were fabulous, but it was a start and besides she didn't want to live in Damon's room forever and it was too small for a crib.

Elena tied her shaggy, brown hair into a ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror and sighed as she remember another big thing that had changed. Even though she was only a little over two months pregnant a baby bump was already starting to form and news had spread quickly that Elena was pregnant.

Elena shut her eyes as she remembered those horrible days, her teachers' disappointed looks while her classmates whispered things behind her back and practically thought that she was a slut.

After two weeks of torture she had dropped out of high school, she was eighteen and going though that every day was not worth the torture, Damon had quit too. School was out of the question now anyway, they needed money.

Damon's parents had made it clear that they weren't going to help and Elena's own parents were out of the question since they avoided her like the plague now. Katherine had promised that she would try to convince them too otherwise and although Elena appreciated her sister's concern, she knew it was a lost cause.

The door opened and Damon came in like he always did wearing greasy clothes and smelling like tires.

"Hey," Damon said as he gave her a soft smile and kissed her forehead.

"Hey," she whispered back as Damon touched her cheek. As much as Elena hated to admit it, her relationship with Damon had changed as well, though Elena wasn't sure if it was for the better, they were both stressed and worried which didn't add well towards the relationship. "How was work?"

"Decent, you?"

"Well, a little old lady shouted at me for three minutes because I couldn't remember how much a bag of oranges cost. That was fun." She said sarcastically.

Damon kissed her again. "It will get better."

"I doubt it. But thanks for trying."

The doorbell rang and Elena frowned. "Were you expecting someone?"

Damon shook his head. "It's probably Katherine again bringing you animal cookies." Out of pity, Katherine had taken the habit of bringing Elena's favorite animal cookies every week to take her mind off things.

She shook her head as she went to answer the door. "No, Kat went to go visit Elijah at college."

She opened the door and stopped short when she saw Jenna. "Mom?"

Jenna gave her a nervous smile. "Hi, sweetie, Damon I came to talk to you may I come in?"

* * *

"Lexi, can I ask you something?" Amara said looking over her history textbook. Amara had gotten stuck with an asshole for a history teacher and Lexi, who had the same teacher had offered to help her study.

"Sure." Lexi said as she grabbed a piece of gum, she offered some to Amara, but she shook her head. "What's wrong, you look worried."

"I am and Tessa is the problem," she rolled her eyes. She knew that Tessa was capable of going through with her crazy threat and she had avoided Silas for the past few weeks, thankfully Silas had been so busy with soccer practice and his own friends that he had hardly noticed. "I noticed that she's a little obsess over Silas."

"A little?" Lexi scoffed. "Crazy is more accurate." She paused. "Oh, no don't tell me that Tessa is giving you trouble."

Amara squirmed in her seat. "A little, but I can handle her," she lied. "I was just wondering, if you don't mind me asking, what's the relationship between her and Silas? They seem to be . . . close."

Lexi let out a small laugh. "It's kind of a fantasy relationship, and I'm talking about Tessa for that part."

Amara looked confused.

Lexi elaborated. "Look, Tessa, Silas, and I grew up together, I don't think childhood friends is the right words, but whatever. Anyway, since middle school Tessa has, had this huge crush of Silas and well you know how moody my brother can be. When she asked him out in our ninth grade, he rejected her and she was furious. Tessa has been trying to get him to date her for years and you can see how determine she can be. Silas gets freaked out about her though, and I admit she can be pretty scary."

Amara looked relieved. "So she and Silas never dated?" Good, at least she wouldn't come off as a roommate stealing an ex-boyfriend.

"Nope, in her head maybe," Lexi looked at her curiously. "You have nothing to worry about."

-End of Chapter Ten-

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	11. Wrong Words

**Wrong Words**

Amara stared at the textbook in front of her until everything went blurry, how did everyone in her class managed to do everything, study for exams, and still have a social life. Not that Amara had many friends, but it would be nice to have a conversation with other than Lexi, the librarian, and her bitchy roommate.

She closed her math textbook with a sigh, there was just no point in trying to concentrate now.

"You look beat. And stressed out."

She looked up and saw Silas, without wanting too she found herself smiling. "Hi. I haven't seen you in a while."

"I know," Silas replied. "You've been kind of avoiding me."

Amara felt herself blush. "That's not true it's just . . . I've just had a lot of homework and-"

Silas raised his hands in mock surrender to stop Amara's blabbering. "It's cool, Lexi told me, and I know that Tessa can be a pest. I just wanted to see if you wanted to take a night off."

Amara looked at him curiously. "And do what?"

Silas shrugged. "There's a party tonight. Midnight. At The Woods." The Woods, was what the students referred to the secluded piece of territory behind the gym that was covered with trees and bushes and that was perfect for parties.

She wasn't usually the type to go to a party in the middle of the woods and with a boy no less, but she was trying to be more confident and outgoing, no longer shy Amara and if a party could fix that then Amara was going to give it a try. "I would love too."

* * *

"Elijah!" Before Elijah could even turn around, Katherine had hollered his name and wrapped his arms around him practically tumbling him to the ground. A few students shared amused looks as they passed them, but Katherine didn't care if she was making a fool of herself.

She was just so happy to see him, the past few weeks had been hell between a pregnant sister, her fighting parents, and trying to avoid the temptation of carbs and sugar life had been a pretty tough bitch.

But all of her stress and anger seemed to melt the minute that she saw Elijah.

"Katherine, what are you doing here?" Elijah asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I wanted to surprise you, silly." Katherine smiled as she gave him a small peck on the lips.

"Well, I'm surprise." He gave her a knowing smile. "Do your parents know you're here?" Whitmore wasn't exactly around the corner.

Katherine bit her lip and tried to look innocent. "Not exactly, but they think that I'm at some big cheerleading how to be a better captain seminar, so we don't have to worry about them for a few hours."

"Good." Elijah led her back towards his car. "So what do you want to do? Do you want to get a bite to eat or-"

"No," she said. "Why don't we go on a nice drive." She gave him mischief smile. "Maybe have some private time?"

Elijah smirked. "You just read my mind."

Elijah drove her towards a small lake that offered a beautiful sunset, but they barely paid attention to the nature as they stated making out. Katherine couldn't help but noticed that their make out/fondling sessions had become more heated lately.

It was obvious that Elijah was more than ready to go the next step, but Katherine was the one that wasn't ready. She might be flirty and seductive, but when it came to losing her virginity she chickened out and it didn't help that with Elena being pregnant it made her worry about birth control.

"I haven't asked." Katherine said between moans as Elijah started kissing her neck, his hand going in the direction of her bra. "What do you want for your birthday?"

Elijah gave her a wolfish smile before he pressed her against the seat of the car. "You."

Katherine burst into nervous giggles.

"Your butt is smaller."

The comment confused Katherine. "Excuse me?" she gave him a teasing smile. "You remember the size of my butt?"

"No," Elijah blushed. "It just . . . it seems smaller and bonier . . . never mind forget what I said it was stupid."

Katherine rested her head against his shoulder. "You're so cute." Now if only she didn't have to go home everything would be perfect.

* * *

"An abortion?" Elena echoed the words that her mother had just repeated to her, as if she had never heard the word. "Did you seriously just suggest an abortion?"

"Well, yes." Jenna said as she looked from Damon to Elena. Damon's face wasn't clear, but Elena looked upset. "Me and your father have been talking about it and well, you were young, mistakes happen and we weren't the most informative parents, nor the most understanding." She took in a deep breath. "We thought it would be best if you had an abortion, you guys are only eighteen, and you need to finish high school and go to college and not be worrying about a baby. We only have a few weeks left and we're willing to pay for it-"she trailed off when she saw that Elena was only looking more upset. "Damon what do you think?"

Damon sighed. "I think your mom is right, Elena." He said. "We have jobs, but neither of them pay enough to take care of a baby, and all though it might not be the most humane thing to do. It seems like the best option for us."

"I don't know." Elena shook her head. "Everything is just so complicated, and it's true a baby was unexpected, but isn't getting rid of it a little extreme?"

Jenna stood up. "You're both eighteen now, you're adults so that means you can make your own decisions. You guys can think about it for a few days and when you've reached a decision . . . call me."

-End of Chapter Eleven-


	12. Risk

**Risk**

"How did it go?" Katherine stopped doing her history homework when Jenna stepped inside. Things between her and her parents had been tense ever since they had kicked Elena out, but things were slowly starting to improve between her and her mother when she started proving that her mother did have a heart.

Jenna had mentioned that she was going to convince Elena to get an abortion, which Katherine thought was a good idea. Elena was too young to be a mother and she had a bright future ahead on her without being tied down to a baby. Though she doubted that her sister would ever agree.

Jenna looked pale as she sat on the bed. "Well, Damon agreed and your sister said that she would think about it, anyway that's not why I came to talk to you."

"Then why did you come?"

Jenna didn't say anything for a moment. "I know that the whole Miss Mystic Falls Pageant doesn't mean anything to you, but it means a lot to me and to Grandma Sommers and it's obvious that Elena won't be able to participate even with or without the baby. . .and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking her place and continue the legacy."

Katherine stared at her mother, was she nuts? Katherine hated beauty pageants, she thought that they were stupid and ridiculous, the only reason that Elena had agreed was because she didn't have guts. She was about to decline when Katherine looked at Jenna, she looked so tired and exhausted, it was clear that the whole Damon-Elena-baby thing was taking its toll and for some reason, Katherine couldn't say not to her.

"Fine," Katherine said slowly. "I'll do it."

A smile spread of Jenna's face as she hugged Katherine. "Thank you so much sweetheart." She pulled back. "The first meeting is on Sunday." She looked at her strangely, "Those sweaters that you buy really get big in the wash don't they?"

* * *

". . . Such a shame in someone so young-"

"Wasted future. . . "

"This is what's wrong with today's generation, bunch of hussies!"

Elena tried to ignore the comments all around her as she checked the prices of the food in the small supermarket that she worked in. But it was hard, especially since the people around her didn't even bother to whispered, but Elena couldn't help but believe that a part of them was right. She had just thrown her whole future away.

She thought about what her mother had had said yesterday. She was willing to pay for an abortion, one simple surgery and Elena would be done, she and Damon could continue their lives . . . or go their separate ways.

She felt a lump in her throat as she thought about the alternative, what kind of future could she and Damon have together anyway? Them working bad jobs to support a baby, their love eventually turning to hatred? What kind of love was that?

She looked at the clock and saw that her shift was over, thank god. She grabbed her car keys and headed towards her car. Elena exited the parking lot heading back to Damon's house. She couldn't wait to get out of her crappy uniform and take a shower.

Elena cursed under her breath when her purse fell down and she lowered herself to grab it. When she raised her head up she saw an incoming car coming towards her direction, she tried to move out of the way, but she couldn't.

She heard glass break, sharp pain in her head and then everything went black.

* * *

Amara couldn't help but feel nervous as she went into The Woods where she was sure that held of her classmates were drunk already. These were not the kind of parties that she went to, well truthfully she didn't go to parties period, so this was going to get some getting used too.

She had chosen to wear a short black skirt that she had accidently taken from Katherine's closet and a white cardigan, so what if the cardigan toned down the sexy, it was cold outside. She sat down in a log and looked at the unfamiliar faces. She looked down nervously where was Silas?

* * *

"Hey, Tessa isn't that your roommate?" Anna, Tessa's best friend said as she pointed to where Amara was nervously sitting. Damn her, she had the poor-me route played to perfection.

"What is she doing here?" Celeste snarled. They had heard stories about her from Tessa and they couldn't believe that Amara was trying to get Silas interested in her. By now everyone knew that Silas belonged to Tessa. Period. The fact that Silas wanted nothing to do with her was just a sad fact.

"Seriously?" Anna giggled. "Shouldn't she be reading to the orphans or asking her teachers' for extra credit or something."

"Now girls be nice," Tessa said with fake sweetness as she took a sip of her beer. "Hey, Celeste do you still have those sleeping pills that you stole from your mom's medicine cabinet?"

Celeste nodded as she pulled them out of her purse. "Always have them with me. What are you going to do?"

Tessa ignored the question as she grabbed two pills and crushed them with her hand and watched them dissolved into the beer. "I think I'm going to offer my sweet roommate a beer. Be right back." She approached Amara. "Fancy seeing you here."

Amara forced a smile. "Tessa, hi, I didn't know you were going to be here."

"Oh, I always get invited to parties." She said as she thrust the drink towards Amara. "Drink before those jerks finish all of it."

Amara gave her a polite smile, but didn't drink.

"You're supposed to drink." Tessa said irritably. "That's what a keg party is for."

"Oh," Amara took a small sip, she had only drank beer once and she hated it and this time it was no different. She had no idea why Tessa was being so friendly, and all though she was suspicious, it was better to be on Tessa's good side than her bad.

"Well, enjoy the party," Tessa said as she went back to her girls. "I can't wait until that bitch crashes and burns. I guess someone should inform the headmaster that poor Amara is here drunk as a skunk."

* * *

Damon frowned when he went inside his house and saw Katherine sitting down on the staircase. "What are you doing here? Who let you in?" he frowned when he saw that she was upset. "Whoa, have you've been crying?"

"Where have you been?!" she hollered. "I've been calling you!"

"Chill, my phone died, what is it, Katherine?"

Katherine gulped. "Elena has been in an accident, I'm here to take you to the hospital."

-End of Chapter Twelve-


	13. Empty

**Empty**

Elena woke up groggily feeling like she had just been hit by a bus. Actually maybe getting hit by a bus might have hurt even less. Her brown eyes opened fully as she looked around and realize that she wasn't in her room. She wasn't in Damon's room. She was at a hospital. That was the only explanation for the ugly hospital garb that she was wearing and all the wires connected to her that were making her feel like an extra in Wall-E.

Elena let out a choked sob as she remembered what happened. She had been driving home from work, got distracted and she had hit another car. Or the other car had hit her, she wasn't sure. Her entire body felt numb as panic entered her system. Was there any permanent damage? Had she hurt anyone? She froze. The baby. Her baby. The baby that she wasn't even sure that she wanted.

She touched her belly, but it didn't feel like anything strange had happened. It just felt wobbly and tender. Elena gulped, she needed someone to talk to her. "Hello?" she tried to croak out. "Hello, is somebody there."

The door burst open as her family and Damon came bursting in like firefighters, she could hear them talking excitedly all at once, though Elena had no idea what they were saying.

"Give her space to breathe, guys." A short, red headed nurse said as she tried to take her pulse. "Deep breaths, honey you gave us quite a scare."

After annoyingly being checked by the nurse for a few minutes, Elena was finally left alone with her family and boyfriend, she couldn't believe that Damon and her parents were even in the same room together, even Katherine look sickly.

"Are you ok, honey?" Jenna asked as she started fluffing her pillows. "You look pale, do you want water or-"

"No," Elena said sharply as she looked around. "I want to know what happened. Did I hurt anyone?"

"Well, your car is a total mess," Katherine said in fake cheerfulness when no one said anything. "But good news is, that the other driver wasn't hurt at all and Daddy already paid him off to have his car fixed. You have a broken wrist, but the good news is that it's only going to take a few weeks to-"

"That's not what I meant, Katherine and you know it." Elena said sharply losing her temper as she looked around. "Did I lose it? Did I lose the baby?"

"You did," Alaric said. "You suffered the most impact Elena, you even have a mild concussion and some bad scratches, and babies in the first trimesters are delicate so-"

Elena ignored everything that Alaric had said. There was only one thing that matter. She had lost the baby. It was her fault. She was a terrible person. Elena choked on her tears, there were a million things that she wanted to say, though she couldn't say them.

She looked at Damon, who still hadn't said anything. "Well, I hope all of you are happy," Elena said lashing out at them. "You wanted to get rid of this baby so much. Congrats, you got your wish."

Katherine flushed. "Elena, that's not fair-"

"I would like to speak to my boyfriend," Elena said coldly. "Alone."

While her parents and Katherine left the room, Elena turned to Damon. There were so many things that she was feeling sadness. Hurt. Anger. Angry at herself, angry at him. Angry at everything.

"Well?" Elena demanded. "Aren't you going to say anything? Or are we just going to sit here and not say anything."

"I'm sorry," Damon finally said as he squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry, that you're going through this. I don't know what else to say, Elena. I especially don't know what to say except you're so angry."

"You're right." Elena said. "I'm angry at myself, at both of us, at the world. You and everyone else decided what was going to happen. I have an abortion and then everything returns to normal, you didn't let me decide. But I guess that doesn't matter anymore."

Damon frowned. "I never told you what to do."

"Yeah, but you didn't give me a choice," Elena choked out. "For you, it was an easy way out, what about me? I was actually carrying it and a part of me wanted it gone, and now-"she burst into loud sobs.

Damon patted her back. "Elena, I'm so sorry, if there is anything that I can do-"

"There is," Elena gulped as she looked at him. He had been her love. Her first love. "I need time, to think, to heal . . . and I need to do it alone."

Damon looked perplexed. "Are you breaking up with me?"

She slowly nodded. "I think it's for the best. I need to be free, Damon and I need to remake my life without you. I need to find myself first."

Damon abruptly stood up as he looked detached. "Well, don't let me stand in your way."

* * *

Silas walked into The Woods thirty minutes after Amara, he hadn't meant to be late but his bio study group had ran late and Silas had been forced to stay if he wanted to pass. The Woods was filled with the usual crowd, though Silas was surprise that Tessa wasn't even trying to flirt with him, in fact she was actually leaving early. Perfect.

He frowned when he saw Amara sitting on a log drinking from a red cup like there was no tomorrow. She had a droopy, lazy smile on her face and it didn't take a genius to notice that she was drunk.

"Amara," Silas took the cup from her. "Amara, hey look at me, how many of these have you drank."

Amara shrugged. "I don't know," she giggled. "Tessa has been so sweet bringing them to me. Where is Tessa anyway? What took you so long, oh pretty stars?"

Silas let out a silent groan as he helped Amara up, though even her feet were wobbling. "Come on, I'm taking you back to your dorm."

"Ok," thankfully Amara didn't protest too much as she quietly sang "Jingle bells" all to herself.

"Wait," Amara looked around. "This isn't my room."

"No, it's mine." Silas admitted as he closed the door. "I don't want to run into Tessa."

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"Nah, just be quiet," Silas noticed that Amara was quickly falling asleep. He handed her a pillow. "Here, don't hit your head."

She nodded as she placed down the pillow. Amara quickly closed her eyes as she fell asleep. She had no idea what had made her so sleepy in the first place. One good thing had come out of it though. She got to spend the evening with Silas.

* * *

"I'm going, Mom!" Katherine said to her mother as she grabbed her purse the following Sunday. She was heading to the Miss Mystic Falls meeting to take Elena's place. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Elena's bedroom door was firmly close. Ever since she moved back home a few days ago, Elena spent most of her time, locked up in her room. She had been so moody and angry that to be honest, Katherine had avoided her.

Katherine shook her head as she got into her car and headed towards the Lockwood's where Carol Lockwood was having the informational lunch meeting. Katherine couldn't help, but feel excited.

She walked inside and saw that the entire entrance was decorated with pink balloons and Carol herself was greeting people at the door. "Katherine, welcome," Carol said. "How are your sisters?"

Katherine responded with a simple, "Fine." As she headed inside. There were only ten girls competing for the Miss Mystic Falls, but they were all pretty, poise, not mention at will backstabbing bitches.

Katherine forced herself not to look in the direction of the tea sandwiches and cookies and instead focused her attention on Carol who had positioned herself at the front of the room.

"Welcome ladies," Carol said. "This will be a short meeting, I promise. Every one of you has been chosen to represent our community in the Miss Mystic Falls competition. You will be judged on your community values, your goals, and of course grace. Please note that you will need an appropriate dress and an escort that is all. Please use this time to mingle and get to know your future friends!

-End of Chapter Thirteen-


	14. The Birthday

**The Birthday**

"He's going to be here any minute," Rebekah snapped at Katherine. Rebekah was wearing a clingy yellow dress while Katherine opted for a tight, black dress. It was the evening of Elijah's surprise birthday party and Rebekah and Katherine decided to throw it at home and even her stuffy parents had agreed as long as Rebekah and Katherine were responsible.

The Mikaelson' backyard was covered with tables, balloons, a table full of catered food, and a glossy birthday cake. Half of the guests were already there mostly Elijah's college friends that Rebekah had invited and a few underclassmen that Elijah had been friends with. Some of Elijah's friend had even managed to sneak in a keg.

"Rebekah, chill." Katherine said as she fluff her bangs. "Everything is going to be fine." Her cell buzz from a text from Stefan. She and Stefan had grown quite close ever since Stefan had starting coaching her on her running. "Stefan says he's almost near the driveway." She turned back to the guests. "Places people."

While everyone went to find a hiding place, Katherine tried to control her nerves. Elijah her boyfriend was going to be here at any moment and she wanted this party to be absolutely perfect. She heard Elijah locking his car.

"What did you want to show me Stefan?"

"It's um, a surprise, it's in here."

Elijah and Stefan entered the patio as the guests came out screaming. "Surprise!"

Elijah gave back a startled jump. "What the-"

Katherine walked towards him and kissed him. "Happy birthday, Elijah!"

"Thank you." Elijah kissed her again. "You did all of this for me?"

"Her and your loving sister," Rebekah said sarcastically as she kissed her brother on the cheek. "Happy birthday, Elijah."

Elijah gave her a hug. "Thank you, Bekah."

The rest of the party went smoothly much to Katherine and Rebekah's enjoyment and while everyone else focused on the free beer, Katherine managed to get some alone time with Elijah even if he was slightly ruining the romance by eating cake. "This is good." He said. "Where did you buy it? Want a bite, I don't think I've seen you eat anything."

Katherine shook her head as she wiped some frosting off his upper lip. "Betsy's Bakery, I'm glad you like it."

"I love it." He pulled her closer for a deeper kiss and started rubbing his hands across her back as their excitement grew.

"Your room," Katherine said in a breathy tone. "Now."

Elijah raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You sure?"

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life."

* * *

Much to Katherine's relief the Miss Mystic Falls pageant that usually happened in late November had been moved to January. Katherine was relieved because she needed to find the perfect dress, not to mention that she wanted to look thinner and more fabulous than the rest of the competition. She knew that she was being a hypocrite, but she was actually excited about the pageant. Who knew it might even be fun.

Katherine was going to Rebekah's to help her clean up when she saw Elena sitting on the dining room table and she stopped guiltily. Katherine had to admit that for the past few days she had been ignoring her sister, putting off excuse of why she didn't talk to her, but the truth was she didn't know what to say. What could she say to Elena? She didn't know what she could say to someone who had lost a baby.

Besides Elena was right neither of them had been supportive during the time that she was pregnant. Katherine hesitated when she saw her sister, she couldn't help but see how much she had changed. Elena looked thinner, paler, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her brown hair was dry.

Katherine shook her head as she walked towards her sister, she couldn't avoid Elena forever. She pulled back a chair. "Hey."

Elena forced a wobbly smile. "Hey."

Katherine leaned forward and squeezed her hand. "Listen I know I have been AWOL in the past couples of days . . . especially now that you need support, but honestly I didn't know what else to say other that I'm sorry. I should have supported you, I should have been kinder to you, I made a mistake and as your sister, I'm asking for your forgiveness."

Elena's lip wobbled. "Thank you for apologizing."

"How are you feeling? You look tired."

Elena sighed. "I am tired, I haven't been sleeping and I keep having nightmares. I feel weird, the doctor says it's going to take a few days for my body to get back to a normal routine and realize that I lost the baby. It's just it's hard."

Katherine cocked her head. "How about Damon? Have you've talked to him?"

Elena scoffed. "Honestly, I don't think I want to see Damon ever again." When Katherine looked confused, she elaborated. "We broke up, this baby, this short term pregnancy made me see things for real. I just don't think we're right for each other . . . at least not right now. I need time."

Katherine shrugged. "You'll figure it out. You and Damon will work things out and you'll be back to being a lovey-dovey annoying couple."

Elena laughed for the first time in a while. "Enough about me, it's depressing. Tell me about you-more specifically you and Elijah."

Katherine blushed. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course."

"You know Elijah's birthday party last night?" Elena nodded. "Well, after the cake we sneaked up to his old room and we-"

Elena grinned as she slapped Katherine's shoulder playfully. "Shut up, you did it! Your first time?" she stopped short. "You were safe right?"

Katherine nodded. "Condom, definitely."

"So how was it?" Elena asked eagerly, wanting news from other than her depressing life.

Katherine blushed prettily. "It hurt at first and it was a little awkward." Her blush deepened. "But very enjoyable."

Elena was about to press her for more details when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." She opened the door and froze when she saw who it was. "Damon."

She hadn't seen Damon in almost two weeks and yet here he was looking more handsome than ever. With his blue eyes he gave her a sheepish grin. "Hi, are you busy."

Elena shook her head. "No, come on in-"

"I rather not." Damon said. "It won't take long what I have to say."

"Oh, and what do you have to say?" she asked annoyed.

"First I want to apologize for being a mega asshole," he gave her a small smile that Elena didn't return. "I admit that I wasn't thinking straight and that I never thought our baby as our baby . . . I know it's too late for apologies."

"It is," Elena crossed her arms over her chest. "But thank you for saying it, do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes," Damon admitted. "I'm leaving Mystic Falls, I'm going to California. I'm leaving tonight actually."

Elena frowned, completely surprise. "You're leaving tonight? Why?"

"My aunt and uncle own a ranch there, they need some help," Damon gave her rueful smile. "And let's face it, I have no reason to stay, I always hated this small town anyway."

Elena gulped. "I guess not."

"I just wanted to say goodbye." When Elena didn't say anything, he turned around.

"Damon, wait!" There was something at the tip of Elena's tongue. She wanted to tell him not to leave, to stay, even though a part of her knew that they needed to make their own paths. Damon tuned around and looked at her with eager blue eyes, but Elena simply said. "I hope you enjoy California."

-End of Chapter Fourteen-


	15. Split

**Split**

"Ok, girls," Katherine spoke to the rest of the cheerleading squad in a cheerful voice, while trying to ignore the fact that she was close to fainting. In fact all of cheerleading practice she had felt this way dizzy, starving, and like all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die. "Last practice of the season, let's give it our best!"

Yes, last practice of the season which meant that after this she was free for three glorious holiday weeks free from school. True, she had to work (at least forced too) on her college applications, but Katherine wouldn't let that put a bumper on things because Amada had emailed her saying that she was doing great and that in a few weeks she could try out again and Katherine could hardly wait.

She focused on the routine-kick, hands on hips, smile, twirl, again.

"All right girls," Rebekah, the co-captain interrupted. "That is all, have a nice break!"

While the rest of the girls chatted and grabbed their water bottles, Katherine grabbed her own water bottle and looked at Rebekah filled with annoyance. "What gives, I wasn't done!"

Rebekah narrowed her blue eyes. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest. "Kat, no one has been wanting to say anything, but your routine has been off for weeks, it's like your head's not even in it anymore," Rebekah jabbed a finger against Katherine's bony hip. "Oh and FYI, buy a new cheerleading skirt." She soften. "Look, I know I'm coming down as a bitch, but I know how much you wanted to be team captain and I would hate it, if you messed up your opportunity."

Katherine tried to hide her annoyance, since when did Rebekah start telling her what to do, not to mention getting all "concern", she was about to call her off from it when she relaxed. It didn't matter now and she knew that deep down Rebekah was trying to help, her being bitchy was her way off helping and Katherine didn't want to fight with her friend before the holidays.

"Thanks Becks," Katherine smirked. "And FYI, you may be a bitch, but you're my bitch."

Rebekah smirked back. "Always and forever."

Once Rebekah and Katherine said goodbye in the parking lot, Katherine headed towards her own car, her phone in hand. She and Elijah had been texting nonstop since his party.

**Katherine**: Just finish with cheerleading, when do you have a day off so that I could show you my new routine in private? : )

**Elijah**: I would love to baby, but I'm swamped with finals.

**Katherine**: Sucks to be you, you definitely going to be home for Christmas right?

**Elijah:** Wouldn't miss it. Xox.

Katherine parked her car and entered the kitchen, Jenna wasn't home and Elena was probably at the adult school taking a few classes to take her exam and get her GED. Katherine was about to grab a water bottle when she saw the bag of marshmallow and chocolate her mom, must have bought that morning. Her mouth almost watered, she couldn't remembered the last time she had ate something sweet.

Be strong, Kat a little voice seem to say inside her head, be strong, it's just food, bad junk food, carb filled junk food that-

Katherine ignore the voice in her head as she hastily opened the bag of marshmallows like she hadn't eaten in weeks and stuffed the gooey, sweet marshmallow inside her mouth. "Yummy," she whispered as she hastily opened a chocolate bar. She forgotten how good chocolate was, did they have crackers, maybe they could make s'mores.

Katherine stopped suddenly as she looked at the half eaten bags of junk food, she felt her stomach rebel as she headed towards the toilet. Katherine forced her finger down her throat until all the sweets came tumbling back down.

Katherine gripped the edge of the toilet. "What the hell is wrong with me?" she gasped as she flushed. "I'm acting like a crazy person, I'm stronger than this . . . I'm stronger."

* * *

Amara felt someone's hands on her waist and she squealed when she saw Silas who immediately kissed her. "Silas, you scared me." She smiled as she led him towards the older section of the school library where no one hung around. "You know it's dangerous to meet during daylight hours, Tessa could see us."

"Tessa who?" Silas asked as he pressed Amara against a bookshelf.

Amara couldn't believe her good luck, a year ago she got tongue tied whenever she meet new people and a few months at boarding school had changed that and now she was actually making friends and successfully dating Silas.

So why did it matter that they had to sneak around so Tessa or her little minions didn't see? Amara hadn't wanted to date in secret and being sneaky all over the place, but Silas had warned her that Tessa had the habit or torturing people who annoyed her and that he didn't want Amara to be one of her victims.

"How was your day?" Amara whispered as she wrapped her arms around Silas.

"Good," Silas said. "How was yours, hit anyone with a soccer ball lately?"

"Silas!" Amara whacked him playfully on the shoulder. "I've been getting better and I almost made a goal yesterday."

"Someone call the press." Silas joked.

"Speaking of which what do you know about American History?"

"I know a lot." He looked up. "Study buddy?"

Amara nodded as she gave him a peck on the nose. "Study buddy. Now let me get my books."

Celeste, one of Tessa's closest friends pulled down her book that was shielding her face once Silas and Amara left. Boy, won't Tessa be pissed. She grabbed her phone.

**Celeste:** T, S + A in the library, k-i-s-s well, you get the drill.

* * *

"It's so weird seeing you like this," Elena said as she sat next to Katherine and looked at Amara who was on skyped. She waved her hand in front of the computer. "Can you see me?"

Amara rolled her eyes. "Of course I can see you, I'm not blind. How are you feeling Elena?"

Elena nodded. "Better, still tired, but better. So how's boarding school, any hot guys?"

Amara tried not to blush. She didn't want to tell her sisters about Silas yet. "No, nothing yet."

"Oh, please can we not talk about Amara's non existing love life?" Katherine fluffed her hair. "Let's talk about mine."

Elena scoffed. "Yeah, Amara let the Queen speak."

"Thank you." She saw Jenna and Alaric coming in and Katherine turned the computer around. "Family meeting, next time."

"Hi, mom, hi daddy." Amara said cheerfully though she could tell that her parents were far from happy.

"Hello, sweetheart," Jenna forced a smile. "Listen, we have something to tell you." She looked at Alaric.

Alaric cleared his throat. "Girls, your mother and I have something to announce, we've all been through difficult times. Some more difficult than others, and we've discuss this and we thought it would be best if-"

Jenna interrupted him. "Girls, your father and I are getting a divorce."

-End of Chapter Fifteen-


	16. Holiday Gloom

**Holiday Gloom**

Elena knew that she was being beyond pathetic, but at this point her life was a complete mess. So what did she have to lose? It had been almost two weeks since her parents had divorced and all though she was getting her own life back in order, everything was becoming screwed up again.

She and her sisters were barely speaking to each other, her father had moved out, and Damon hadn't called or texted once. She knew that they were broke up, but a part of her couldn't help but hope that he would call.

Elena looked over her shoulder even though she knew that the house was empty, Jenna was meeting with her lawyer and Katherine what off who knows where. Elena bit her lip as she went to Damon's Facebook's page. She hadn't checked it in a while, mostly because she didn't want to think about him.

She clicked it open and saw that he hadn't written anything new on his wall, but there was a new picture. It was taken at the beach and Damon was wearing a hat, a pretty blond girl was leaning against him pressing her own cheek against him. Elena couldn't help, but notice that she was wearing the same hat.

Elena felt a pang of jealousy stab her through her heart. She knew that they were over and that she had no right to feel jealous, but she couldn't help it, she felt hurt and angry and sort of jealous because Damon was able to move on and she wasn't.

She was trying, but they might as well be telling her to go climb a mountain. She sighed as she turned off the computer. No, she couldn't focus on Damon anymore, she needed to focus on her own screwed up problems first. Damon could wait.

* * *

"All packed?" Silas asked half knocking on Amara's dorm room, Amara had texted him that Tessa went to visit Celeste so it was safe for him to visit, a half opened suitcase was on her bed. It was the last day of the term and everyone else was going home for winter break.

"Hey," Amara gave him a small kiss before pulling out a gift. "Since we're on break, I thought I'd give you, your Christmas present early." She handed him a wrapped gift.

Silas pulled out the wrapping paper and the present turned out to be a soccer ball and it had two concert tickets attached to it.

Amara blushed. "You mentioned how much you love them, and I've never been to one of their concerts, perhaps you could take me with you?"

"You're on." Silas said. "Though it does make my present look weak by comparison."

"Oh, no, don't say that," Amara said as she took the small box from him. "I'm sure, I'll love it." She opened the box and inside was a pretty brooch of a hummingbird made with green and blue stones. "Silas, it's so cute and it will look good with my winter coats."

"Lexi helped me pick it out," Silas said trying not to sound too embarrassed. "And I remembered you loved hummingbirds from that poem you said you're liked."

"I did." Amara said as she touched the brooch. "Merry Christmas."

* * *

Tessa peeked over her dorm room hours later, half of the student population was gone already and she knew that Amara had left on the first plane to wherever the hell she came from which made it the perfect opportunity for Tessa to sneak in.

She knew she was being beyond petty, but she wanted Amara gone permanently, and the only way to do that was expulsion. What Tessa was planning to do was quite devious if she did say so herself, but in a way rather brilliant as well.

From her bag she pulled out a small bag of marijuana that she had managed to obtain at such short notice for a hefty price. It was a tiny amount that it barely fit into a small bag but it would be enough to get Amara into trouble.

She opened Amara's night table drawer and placed the baggie inside in clear view. Tessa's brown eyes stopped short on a few pages stapled together, her eyes went through the pages. It was a short story, Amara was probably hoping to get in published in the school's literary magazine and it was actually good.

Tessa slipped it into her bag and closed the drawer, she had a feeling things would start to get better for her very soon.

* * *

"I'm dreading this aren't you?" Elena asked Katherine as she set the plates for dinner which now only consisted of the four women. Usually the holiday season was Elena's favorite season, but after the mess that had happened all year, she couldn't wait for it to be over.

Katherine snorted. "Which part, the part where we pretend that everything is all right or the part that we know that things are never going to be the same again."

Elena shrugged. "Both, I guess." She studied Katherine's movements they were slower than usual and she looked a less glamorous version of herself with an old sweatshirt. "Are you ok, you've been kind of out of it these past few days?"

"I'm fine, Elena." Katherine said looking visibly annoyed. 'I don't need you hovering."

"I'm not trying to be hovering, I'm just concerned-"Elena tried.

"Well, I don't need you concern, back off."

* * *

"Amara, you're here!" both sister squealed as they wrapped their arms around the triplet.

"I'm here!" Amara smiled back as she let her suitcase fall to the ground, she studied each of her sister's faces. "You guys look so different!"

Katherine playfully shoved her. "In a good way, I hope."

"Definitely in a good way."

The doorbell rang and Elena pulled away. "I'll get it, it's probably the pizza guy." She opened the door and took a step back and looked at the familiar dark hair man. "Damon?"

Damon gave her a wry smile. "Happy holidays, Elena."

* * *

"Present time! Present time!" Katherine squealed as she clapped her hands together, not caring that half of the people that were jogging in the park were staring at her as if she were crazy. She had no idea why Elijah had suggested that they open presents in the park when it was freezing outside.

Elijah had already opened his own present which consisted of a book that Katherine thought was beyond boring, but that he "suggested" he would like and now it was Katherine's turn.

Elijah tried to hold in a laugh as he handed her the purple wrapped gift. "Now be patient."

"I am being patient," Katherine insisted as she removed the paper. "I haven't ripped it from your hand yet." She smiled when she saw that it was the pretty pink sweater that Katherine had fallen in love with when they had gone to buy presents for Rebekah. He had remembered. "Elijah, you remembered!"

Elijah chuckled. "I did remember."

Katherine immediately put on the sweater, but it was obviously too big for her now small frame. The material stretched too long. It was like a little kid playing dress up with their parents' clothing.

Elijah frowned. "I'm sorry, Rebekah told me you size, but I may have gotten it wrong. I'll return it and get it in a smaller size."

Katherine gave him a quick peck on the cheek, loving the way that he said smaller. "Don't you dare, I love it."

-End of Chapter Sixteen-


	17. Thieves

**Thieves**

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked as she stared at Damon. She closed the door so that her sisters didn't listen in. Damon looked generally the same, but to Elena he might as well be a whole new person. He looked so different and even in the short time that he had left, he even looked more mature. "I thought you were still in California."

"I was." Damon gave a small shrug. "I guess I just missed the rain here. Or the people."

Elena let out a small laugh. "You came back to visit your parents." She guessed.

Damon nodded. "But like always they seem more interested in their jobs and cell phones than me."

Elena put her hands on her hips. "Their lost. Though I must admit I wonder why you would leave such a pretty girlfriend you know during holiday season and all."

Elena flushed. Stupid, stupid Elena, had she really just blurted that out.

Damon looked equally confused. "Girlfriend, what girlfriend?"

There was no use, she just needed to go with the flow. "You know the picture that you took with that pretty blond girl back in California."

Damon burst out laughing which only heightened Elena's annoyance. "You mean my cousin? I hate to break it to you, but Callie is my cousin and fifteen."

Elena felt her pulse relaxed. "Oh, you're cousin. Wow, I didn't know. Well, it was good to see you Damon."

Damon gave her, his famous smirk. "Nice to see you too Elena, say hello to your sisters too . . . I can see that Amara is back."

"How do you-"Elena turned around and barely saw a glimpse of Amara and Katherine trying to move away from the window, where they had been looking at them. She tucked back a piece of dark hair. "Sorry about that. So see you around?"

Damon nodded. "You bet."

* * *

Christmas was a quiet affair this year and the three girls and Jenna spent it alone this year, and even though Jenna had made a wonderful dinner and Alaric had sent many presents, it still wasn't the same. So the girls were happy that at least the first major holiday was over. Now they only needed to worry about New Year's.

"You're dating someone?" Katherine asked her brown eyes wide in surprise as she stared at Amara across the table who was trying not to blush. "What do you know our little Amara is growing up."

"Shut up, Kat." Amara giggled. "You're making it sound like it's a big deal."

"It is a big deal." Elena confirmed. "So what's the name of this mysterious boyfriend?"

"Silas." Amara said. "He goes to my school and he has a twin sister, Lexi. But please don't make this a big deal than it really is, we've only been dating for a few weeks besides if my roommate Tessa were to find out she'll kill us both."

Katherine scoffed as she started braiding her hair. "Screw Tessa."

Amara turned to Elena. "Enough about me, I would rather hear about you and Damon. Did he come back for you? Are you back together?"

Elena shook her head as she took a bite from her cookie and rolled her eyes at Amara's romantics. "He didn't come back for me, he came back to visit his parents. He just came to say hello, we're not together."

"Damon, is back?" the three girls flinched as they heard Jenna come into the room. Their mother had been so stressed out about the divorce that she was almost always in a foul mood.

Elena spoke up. "Yes, he just came to say hello, he's visiting his parents. He's been living with relatives in California."

Jenna nodded. "You should invite him to New Year's dinner, we are probably just going to be having Chinese or something."

All three girls were stunned by Jenna's invitation, they knew that Jenna didn't hate Damon as much as Alaric, but it was still a big step up.

"Sure," Elena told her. "I'll tell him. Thanks mom."

* * *

"Thanks so much for my Christmas present!" Rebekah squealed as she pulled out an Aqua blue dress that Katherine had bought for her. Since the girls had spent Christmas with each of their families, Rebekah had invited Katherine over to exchange gifts.

Katherine smiled as she turned on the music. "I knew you would love it, now mine."

Rebekah handed her a wrapped gift and Katherine pulled out a pretty black and silver dress. "I love it! It's going to look so good with those new black high heels that I bought."

"Let's try them on," Rebekah flipped her blond hair. "Let's see which one of us looks more gorgeous."

"You're on, Mikaelson."

Each girl slipped on their dresses and Rebekah's aqua blue dress fit perfectly, but Katherine was frowning at her reflection in the mirror. The dress was her size, but it fit in all the wrong places. The dress looked sloppy against her small frame and did her breasts seem smaller? It needed to be tuck at the waist and honestly it looked like she was wearing her mother's clothes.

"You're unbelievable."

Katherine turned around and snapped at Rebekah. "Excuse me?"

The blond was frowning at her. "Well, you are. Are you blind? Can't you see what you're doing to yourself?" she poked one of Katherine's ribs. "Kat, how long have you've been doing this?"

"Doing what?" Katherine snapped.

"Starving yourself."

Katherine flushed. "I'm not starving myself! Where the hell did your get that?"

Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not blind, Katherine, I see you. You don't eat, your starve yourself all day, you get dizzy, your irritable, I just want to help-"

"Well, do me a favor and stay out of my life!"

Rebekah's eyes filled with tears. "I'm just trying to help."

"Well, I don't need your help," Katherine snapped as she took off her dress and put on her jeans and sweater. "And keep the dress, because I don't think I want to be your friend anymore."

* * *

Amara could feel her pulse raising as she looked out the window and saw that the mailman was barely approaching her house. She didn't know why she was so nervous about receiving the daily copy of the student's literal magazine, _The Venue._ It wasn't as if she had turned in something to be published, but she was still nervous nonetheless.

Before break she had written a short story about a human girl being in love with two vampire brothers, but she had never got the guts to turn it in to get it published, she wished she had. She opened the door startling the mailman.

"Your letters, miss." The mailman said as he handed her several letters and a thick booklet.

Amara nodded her thanks as she placed the bills on Jenna's desk and grabbed the literary magazine. She skimmed through the first few pages there were mostly filled with holiday poems and short stories

Something however, caught her eyes at the last page. It was her story, her vampire love triangle story, but how? She had never turned it in to get published. At the bottom was the author's name-Tessa Gold.

Amara felt her cheeks burn. "What-"

At that precise moment the phone rang and Jenna answered it. "The Pierce residents . . . yes, this is Mrs. Pierce, Amara's mother . . . drugs? There must be some mistake . . . Amara would never. . Yes, I'll hold."

-End of Chapter Seventeen-

Thanks for the reviews!


	18. No Escape

**No Escape**

New Year Eve's dinner at the Pierces was far from fun in any normal situation, and now that things had become abnormal really fast, well let's just say that hell suddenly looked more inviting.

Elena should be glad that Damon had accepted their invitation to a Chinese dinner tonight, he had even brought a chocolate cake because he knew that it was Elena's favorite, but he was uneasy. Very uneasy and honestly Elena couldn't blame him.

She looked across the table and saw that her mom had barely touched her food, but she had seemed to go through her second bottle of wine. Katherine had only served herself some white rice and an egg roll, but was just playing with it and not really eating it.

Elena sighed as she looked towards her baby triplet, the youngest of the three and the sweetest, poor Amara was a nervous wreck. As if it wasn't bad enough that her bitchy, jealous roommate Tessa had stolen her short story, the headmaster had called and informed Jenna that an anonymous person had told them that Amara smoked weed and when they had gone to check, they had found weed in her bedside drawer.

Amara had tried to explain that the weed wasn't hers (though she was very sure that it had been Tessa that had planted it there) but she didn't have proof of anyone else that might have done it and it was in her desk drawer. Amara had been promptly expelled from her dream school and she needed to come on the first day of the term to pick up her stuff.

Since then Amara had been a full blown mess, her eyes were puffy from crying and she didn't even bother to dress up. Elena looked at Damon as if silently begging him to put all of them out of their misery, and in Damon's defense he did try.

"So back at my aunt and uncle's ranch my cousins taught me how to milk cows," Damon smirked as if saying that was the equivalent to getting a new car. Elena giggled and she felt herself relax.

"So did you learn how to milk a cow?" Elena giggled.

Damon nodded. "Took me a while, at first Daisy wanted to kick me. She's not use to strangers."

"Daisy?"

"The cow, my cousins gave all of their cows weird Disney names like Pluto and Minnie and Mulan." Damon shrugged. "Cows are gentle, they don't smell that great, but they are pretty sweet."

Elena looked over to the rest of her family hoping that they would at least pretend to be interested but they were all lost in their own little worlds. Jenna had gone to the kitchen for another wine bottle, Katherine was starting to stab her egg roll with her chopsticks, and Amara was wallowing in self-pity.

Elena threw a knowing look at Damon, it was obvious that her family wasn't in the mood for guests. Damon understood. "Thank you for a lovely dinner, Mrs. Pierce. But I should probably head back home."

The rest of the Pierce women muttered goodbyes as Elena followed Damon outside.

"I'm sorry," Elena blurted out once she and Damon were outside in the bitter cold. "My family is kind of a mess, right now. A huge mess, I shouldn't have put you through that torture."

"It wasn't torture, Elena," Damon lied lamely. "It was. . . different."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Please we both know it was as happy as a funeral in there."

Damon led her towards the porch. "Do you want to talk about it, because honestly I'm kind of lost?" Elena didn't look convince. "Come on Elena, just because we broke up, doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Fine." She sat down on the porch. "It's just everything is so different, it's harder than last year. My parents got divorce that's why my dad isn't there and that's why my mom is drinking like there's no tomorrow."

Damon had guessed that, but hadn't brought it up. "Is that all?"

"I wish," Elena sighed. "And I'm worried for my sisters-both of them. Katherine may act really tough, but she really is the most vulnerable. For the past few months she has been acting weird, like she's upset about something or trying to complete a goal that she can't achieve. She's moody, she's not speaking to Rebekah her best friend, and she avoids everyone. She's not eating and she's not the girl she was."

"I notice." Damon said lightly. "She was playing with her food a lot."

"She always does that now." Elena said frustrated. "And Amara just got kicked out of boarding school and I'm sure her crazy, jealous roommate is behind everything. She's trying to act brave, but I can tell she's upset. She worked so hard to get in and now it's all gone."

Damon squeezed her shoulder. "Elena, you don't have to shoulder everything, I know you care about them and they are your sisters, but it's you parents responsibility too. You shouldn't be handling all of this alone."

"Thanks for listening to me," Elena gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm sure you rather be doing something else that listening to me whine."

"I admit there are other more pleasant things we both rather be doing, but what's a depressing talk between friends?" Damon joked.

Elena laughed. "Thanks Damon, I really appreciated."

"Any time, well I better go." Damon hesitated before he kissed her cheek. "Good night, Elena."

* * *

Katherine was not stupid, she could feel her sisters eyeballing her and it was incredibly annoying, it seemed that Elena had also managed to put Amara in her ridiculous concern mode and now the two of them were driving her mad.

Katherine turned around and Amara and Elena flinched in their steps, they were acting as if Katherine was a poisonous snake. "What?" she hissed.

Amara started playing with her hair. "We, were um wondering if you wanted to talk."

"No," Katherine said tensely. "I don't want to talk."

"We're worried about you, Katherine." Elena said. "Please don't shut us out, we want to help you. You need help, please let us in."

"I don't need your help."

Elena grew annoyed. "So playing with your food and avoiding eating while you waste away is normal behavior? We're not stupid, Kat."

"Mind your own business, Elena!" Katherine snarled.

"Katherine, please don't do this," Amara begged. "It's not healthy, and you're pretty just the way you are-"

"What do you know?" Katherine turned to her triplet. "What could you possibly know Amara? God, how I wish you were still at that stupid school of yours so that you would stop breathing down my neck!"

Amara bit her lip and flushed.

"Katherine!" Elena scolded.

Katherine close the door firmly behind her, feeling a knot in her throat. She was such a bitch. She sunk to her knees and hugged them against her chest as she felt the tears falling down her face.

-End of Chapter Nineteen-


	19. Miss Mystic Falls

**Miss Mystic Falls**

Katherine was angry at both her sisters obviously for their concern, because she hadn't tried to speak to either Amara or Elena since their accusations on New Year's, but even she seemed to feel pity for Amara once the three girl arrived at Abby Mount to help her pack because she at least tried to follow their conversation.

Amara gulped as she looked around the prestigious brooding school. She couldn't believe that at some point, she had, had so many dreams here, so mane expectations. And Silas, she had meet Silas. How was she supposed to leave Silas behind? How was she supposed to leave any of them behind?

"Amara," Elena spoke up when she saw that Amara had frozen in her steps. "Which one is your dorm room?" All three of them girls were holding cardboard boxes so that Amara could pack their stuff while Jenna waited in the car.

"Oh," Amara looked up startled. "This one." She led them to her dorm room. She relaxed when she saw that everything was just as she had left it, she was also glad that Tessa wasn't there yet, perhaps she hadn't arrived yet.

"What do you want to pack first?" Katherine said in a fake friendly tone as she tightened her black cardigan around her thin frame.

"My clothes." Amara sighed. "Then we can work on the electronic stuff."

Elena and Katherine nodded as they stared packing up Amara's clothes in boxes, not really talking except for the occasional please and thank you. Amara looked up when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up and her heart almost leaped from her chest. Silas.

It seemed that Silas has ran here because his cheeks were pink from running and his scarf was loosely draped over his shoulder. "Amara, you're here-oh." He looked confused when he saw the triplets. "You all look the same."

The girls laughed and Elena shrugged. "You get used to it. I'm Elena."

"Katherine." Katherine said as she waved her fingers at him. "Nice to meet you."

Silas nodded. "You too, I also have a twin-girl though, Lexi. I'll bring her over later." He turned to Amara. "Can I talk to you, in private?"

Amara nodded as she followed Silas into the hallway. She hadn't really told Silas that she'd been expelled and she had no desire too, but she had no idea how she was going to hide it from him. Thankfully, Silas spoke up first. "Listen, I heard this crazy rumor over break that you were expelled because of drugs, stupid, huh?" when he saw that Amara wasn't correcting him, he cupped her face. "No, Amara tell me it's not true."

"It's not, it's not true, in a sense." Amara said. "They found weed in one of my drawers, but it wasn't mine. Someone planted it there."

"Tessa." Silas said in a low growl.

"I don't have proof, but we can both safely say that it's probably her."

Silas grabbed her hand. "We need to go to the headmaster. Tell them that-"

"That what?" Amara's voice broke. "I don't have proof, I got expelled. I'm leaving Silas. . .I'm sorry."

"No, don't." Silas gave her a quick kiss. "Don't apologize, just promise me you won't go down without a fight."

"I will." She lied as she kissed him back. "I'll come say goodbye before we leave."

He nodded, solemnly "I guess I better tell Lexi."

Amara nodded as she went back to her room, Elena and Katherine had finished packing her clothes and were moving towards her computer. Katherine raised her head. "How did it go?"

She sighed. "Hopefully it will get better."

"Well, isn't this charming." Tessa said icily as she came into the room. "I'm seeing triple. Are you almost done? This isn't a very big room you know."

Elena stiffened. Amara glared. Katherine snarled looking very much like a wild cat.

Amara glared at her, her anger was bubbling as she tried to control herself, she was not going to give Tessa the satisfaction of making her cry. "Don't worry, we'll be out of your room soon."

"Good."

Katherine pounced towards Tessa. "You've got some nerve you little bitch! How dare you do that to my sister and for a boy? How sad and pathetic can you possibly be?"

Tessa flushed and she narrowed her eyes. "What are you going to do about it chicken legs? I can bend you like a bendy straw and you know it."

"Well, for starters your pretty face is not going to look so pretty after I'm done with you."

"Katherine," Amara pulled Katherine on the arm. Her sister really looked like she was going to attack Tessa. "Let her go, she's not worth it. She'll never be worth it."

* * *

The following week was a blurry of activity and some of the bad news transpired into good news. Elena had managed to get her GED and was taking classes at the local community college for one semester and was planning to enroll at the University for the fall semester in a couple of months, Amara much to her dismay had enrolled back into Mystic Falls high school, and for Katherine the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant was rapidly approaching and her days were filled with meetings and dance recitals.

But the day had finally arrived. Each of the girls had been given a private room so that they could dress. Katherine had opted for a long, black Greek style dress, gold necklace and earrings, and the most adorable black and gold peep toe heels. Jenna had arranged her hair in a messy, curly bun and Elena had managed to do her make up.

Katherine was actually feeling giddy and excited, she turned towards her two sisters and tried not to sound nervous. "How do I look?"

Amara and Elena exchanged looks, honestly Katherine looked like a stick in a black dress, but neither girl wanted to ruin Katherine's special day, so they simply said. "You look beautiful."

"Ok, girls I need you downstairs, Katherine follow me." Carol nodded as she led Katherine towards the staircase where the other girls and their escorts were waiting. She noticed that Elijah was waiting for her dressed handsomely in his tux. But there was something weird in his expression. Concern. Worry. Anxiety.

"Is something wrong?" she asked pointedly.

Elijah quickly shook his head. "No, you look beautiful."

Katherine nervously waited for the five girls in front of her when at last Marissa Otis had passed she gripped Elijah's arm tightly as they walked down the staircase. "Miss. Katherine Pierce and Mr. Elijah Mikaelson."

Katherine's eyes traveled over the crowd. There was Amara and Elena. Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah which was surprising, Jenna, and Alaric? She hadn't seen her father in weeks ever since the divorce, she definitely didn't recognize the girl that was clutching his arm with perfect blond hair. Was that her father's girlfriend?

Katherine could feel herself getting dizzy her grip on Elijah loosen, she felt like she was going to throw up, there were voices all around her and finally she let go and she felt herself tumbling down.

-End of Chapter Nineteen-


	20. Deadly Sweet

**Deadly Sweet**

"It's all my fault," Elena said, her voice hollow, delicate, and breakable. She was wearing Damon's sweatshirt that he had in his car, but she was still cold. After Katherine had fainted and as a result fallen down the stairs, they had rushed her towards Mystic Falls hospital and now the only thing that they could do was wait.

Amara was outside talking to Silas, Jenna and Alaric were whispering with each other near the coffee station (Elena was glad that he hadn't brought his lady friend) and Elijah, Stefan, and Rebekah were sitting in a opposite couch across from them. Elijah kept rummaging his hands through his hair.

Damon wrapped an arm over her shoulder and forced her to look at him. "Elena, listen to me, it's not your fault. You didn't tell Katherine to starve herself, it's not your fault, you shouldn't blame yourself everyone chooses what to do with their life you're not responsible for everything."

Elena bit her lip as she trembled, the tears were threatening to spill. "But I knew Damon, not officially, but I saw that she was eating less and less . . . that she was wasting away. I tried to talk to her, but she just pushed me away, I should have tried harder-"

"Elena, it wasn't your fault," Damon said as he rubbed away the tear with his thumb. "It wasn't anyone's fault, please don't blame yourself."

Elena buried her face in his chest. "Oh, Damon when did life get so complicated?"

Damon kissed the top of her head as he rubbed her back. "It's going to be ok, Elena I promise."

"But what if it doesn't?"

"It will."

"Parents and relatives of Miss Katherine Pierce?"

Everyone bounced out of the chairs as they went to meet the elderly female doctor that was waiting for them. She was tall with light blue eyes and her white hair cut into a bob. "Good evening, I'm Dr. Williams."

"What is wrong with my daughter, doctor?" Jenna demanded as she cleared her throat. "Did she break anything?"

Dr. William shook her head. "She got lucky, only a sprain wrist." Her face darkened. "But it's not the sprain I'm worried about." She looked around the group of teenagers. "Perhaps we can talk in private?"

Alaric was just about to agree, when Amara spoke up. "No," she said sharply as she gave Alaric a pointed gaze, apparently she had also seen Alaric's date. "Katherine is our sister, Elijah is her boyfriend, and everyone else is her friend, so I think we have a right to know."

Alaric sighed. "Go ahead."

"We ran some tests for your daughter and it wasn't pretty, I'm afraid. It seems your daughter is suffering from anorexia and perhaps even traces of bulimia. From what I can tell she's severely malnourish and suffering from malnutrition, if she gets any worse her organs will eventually begin to shut down. I'm surprise she lasted this long without incident. Did you know about any of this?"

"No," Jenna looked startled. "Of course not, we would never-"

"I did." Elena spoke up.

"So did I." Amara said.

"And me." Rebekah flushed.

"And me." Elijah repeated as he put his hands in his pockets. "I thought she was just losing weight, but apparently that was pretty stupid of me, I should have seen it sooner."

"You should have told someone."

"We thought we could help her," Amara squeaked. "On our own."

Dr. Williams shook her head. "This requires professional help, girls." She sighed. "If she doesn't stop it could get a lot worse."

* * *

Katherine woke up feeling both numb and confused, her brown eyes fluttered opened, but it took her a while to get used to the light. She was in a room, in a very bright room. She let out a deep breath, as if it were hard to breath.

"Kat? Katherine, sweetie."

She let out a small gasp as she looked around the room, her vision finally becoming clear. Her family was staring back at her both her parents looked tired, Amara's hair was frizzy and unkempt and Elena was wearing Damon's sweatshirt.

Jenna squeezed her hand. "Do you remember what happened?"

"It was the day of the pageant," Katherine croaked. "Elijah and I were about to go down the stairs and I fell down." She narrowed her eyes at her father. "And I also saw you with that little tramp, is that the reason you divorced mom?"

"Katherine!" Alaric snapped, his face growing red. "Lisa and I are grown adults and we have every right to keep each other company."

"How?" Katherine replied growing furious, she tried to cross her arms over her chest, but her IV was preventing her from crossing her arms over her chest. "By groping each other in front of the entire town."

"That's enough," Jenna said quietly. "Katherine, we're are not dealing with your father right now we are dealing with you, you do realize that we're at the hospital."

Katherine's smile faltered. Crap. "I probably ate something bad-"

Amara cleared her throat. "Katherine, they know." Elena lowered her eyes guiltily.

Jenna rubbed her temple. "Katherine, why would your starve yourself?"

Katherine didn't answer and was instead staring at her fingernails.

"Damn it, young lady your mother ask you a question!" Alaric snapped.

"Dad," Elena snapped. "Cut it out."

Amara frowned and for some strange reason the pieces all seemed to click together. She remembered that before she had left for boarding school, Katherine had told her that she was going to try out and hopefully get a place at Sylvia's Modeling Agency. "This is about you dream . . . the career that you want...you want to be a model. That's why you stopped eating."

Katherine sighed as she laid back down the hospital gown that they had forced her to wear was making her itchy. "Yes, ok, I didn't tell anyone, but I got an appointment. They liked my face, but they said that I needed to work on my body. I don't expect you guys to understand, but it's my life. Modeling is my dream is what I always wanted to do, so yes I'm willing to make a few sacrifices-"

"Katherine, you're killing yourself!" Elena emphasize. "Is that all worth it, just to prove to a small group of people that you are beautiful by their standards?"

"Yes, it's worth it, Elena. "Katherine said, her voice growing thick. "I'm not like you and Amara, I'm not good at school, and I'm not good at anything. For me, modeling has been my dream, my thing, the only way that I can express my love for fashion. The only way that I can stand out. The only way that I can be special."

Amara gulped. "We think you're special, Kat."

"Yeah, who cares what everyone else thinks." Elena piped in.

"Look, Kat dream or not we're not going to let you continue starving yourself." Alaric said firmly. "I don't care if I have to tie you up and force fed you myself."

"I would like to see you try," Katherine snapped back. "The minute that my back is turned you'll go back to Miss America."

Alaric's jaw tightened, but Jenna put a hand on his arm. "You're tired, we should let you rest. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Wait," Katherine spoke up. "Can Amara and Elena stay . . . that is if they want too?"

Amara and Elena nodded. "Sure," Elena said. "We would love too."

"It will be like one big sleepover," Amara forced a laugh. "In the hospital."

Katherine felt herself laughing as she bit her lip. "Thanks, guys."

-End of Chapter Twenty-

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	21. School

**School**

Katherine felt as if she had been dead a long time, even though she had been only in the hospital for two days. She had come to school the following Monday after being force to eat breakfast in front of Jenna and let's just say the rest of the day was miserable. Most of her classmates were too polite to say that they saw her trip and fall in the Miss Mystic Pageant nor that they had seen her father with a skank, but it didn't hurt less.

"I'm so glad you're back." Rebekah chirped next to her as they walked towards the parking lot. "School sucked without you."

Katherine forced a smile and said in an unconvincing tone. "Yeah, me too." To be truthful she would rather be anywhere else but school, but she couldn't tell Rebekah that. She had been so sweet and forgiving ever since Katherine got release from the hospital and not once had she asked her to apologize for Katherine being such a bitch over the holidays. Besides Katherine wanted things to be normal again and that included being friends with Rebekah.

"So which car should we take yours or mine?"

"Actually, I'm on house arrest," Katherine said grimly. "My parents took my car keys and it was either than or get sent to some crappy insane asylum."

"Well, then I'll give you a ride." Rebekah said chirpily, when Katherine looked confused Rebekah elaborated. "My brother, your loving boyfriend, he invited us both to an early dinner at Betty's. He wanted to catch up, don't tell me you forgot."

Katherine shook her head and lied. "No, I was just teasing you, so will you give me a ride?"

"Sure." The ride to Betty's Diner, was almost normal, pre-senior year, Katherine thought. It was almost the kind of things that Katherine and Rebekah used to talk about that mostly revolved around boys and shopping. The girls entered the small diner, it smelled like hamburgers and meat loaf and Katherine's stomach was growling.

Elijah greeted them with a smile from a nearby booth. "Bekah! Kat!" he gave Rebekah a quick kiss on the cheek and gave Katherine a soft kiss. "How are you feeling?" he whispered.

Katherine smiled. "I'm fine."

Rebekah wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, can you two please do that somewhere else?"

Elijah and Katherine laughed as they slipped into the booth. Within minutes an older looking waitress appeared. "Welcome, darlings can I take your order?"

"Yes, please I'll have the mini chicken burritos and an ice tea." Rebekah said crisply.

"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger and an ice tea as well, please."

"Gotcha," the waitress turned to Katherine. "And you little darling?"

"Yes," Katherine said. "I have the chicken Ceaser salad and I'll stick with water." When the waitress left she turned back to Elijah and Rebekah who were staring at her. "What?" she asked annoyed.

"Rebekah, can you give us a moment." Elijah said in a deadly voice.

Rebekah cleared her throat as she grabbed her purse. "Actually I just remember I have a lot of homework and I lost my appetite . . . I'll see you back home, Elijah."

Elijah didn't respond he was still staring at Katherine. "What are you doing?"

"Why are you getting so upset?" Katherine snapped back.

Elijah took a deep breath and whispered. "Katherine, I'm trying to be patient, but while you may have fooled me for the past several months, you are not fooling me now. I'm not ok with this, and you're not going to use me as your little cover up."

"Why do you care what I do with my life Elijah?" she snapped.

"I care because I'm in love with you!" Elijah said furiously. "And I'm not going to sit here and watch you destroy yourself."

Katherine stood up and grabbed her purse. "Maybe that's the problem, you care too much."

* * *

"How was your first day?" Silas asked as he walked through campus, miles away from Amara who was back at Mystic Falls High School.

"It could have been worse," Amara grumbled from the other end. "Though I guess everyone feels that way when you attend school with the same people that you've known since kindergarten."

Silas sighed. "I'm sorry, baby."

"Listen, I need to go Elena is glaring at me to hurry up, but call you later?" she asked hopefully.

"You bet."

Silas turned off his phone and narrowed his eyes when he saw Tessa walking across campus with her two lackeys trailing behind her. "Tessa."

Tessa looked mildly surprise, but smiled. "I'll see you later." She told Anna and Celeste as she approached him. "Silas, well I can't say this is a surprise, though I did know that this was only a matter of time.

Silas stifled a laugh. "You think that because Amara is no longer here that I've found your obsession charming."

Tessa blinked. "I wouldn't call it obsession, but admiration. But now that your doe eye brunette is gone, it's only natural that you see what you've been missing all along. Me."

"You think very highly of yourself." Silas lowered his voice. "I'm not stupid Tessa I know it was you that planted those drugs in Amara's room and I know that you were the one that stole her short story."

Tessa smirked. "Wow, you are smart another thing I admire about you. And yes, since the cat is out of the bag, I admit that I was the one that planted the weed on Amara, it was kind of hard buying it at the last minute, but I know a guy. Oh, and your girl really has talent for writing, or I do in any case. I warned her Silas, don't let her innocent act fool you. Karma can be a real bitch. Laters."

Silas watched as Tessa walked away, he pulled out his phone that had the little record button on. It had recorded Tessa's whole confession. "Yes, Tessa karma can be a real bitch."

* * *

"Hi," Elena said shyly as she opened the door and saw Damon standing there. "I didn't expect you."

"Yeah, well I was in the neighborhood and I wanted to drop this off for your sister." Damon said pointing to the stuffed sheep that was holding a get well balloon.

Elena took the stuffed sheep from him. "That's really sweet, but I don't think Kat is in the mood for receiving visitors, she and Elijah got into an argument."

"That's not the only reason I came by," Damon squirmed uncomfortably. "I came to say goodbye. I'm going to go back to my aunt and uncle tomorrow."

Elena's brown eyes widened as she looked at him confused. She had thought that for sure that Damon would leave after the holidays, but when he had stayed for the pageant a small part of Elena had hope that he would be staying here forever. With her. "Wow, you're going back to California? I wasn't expecting that."

Damon gave her a rueful smile. "Yeah, Mystic Falls and I need a break. A long break. Anyway, I was just coming to say goodbye, I don't think I'm coming back anytime soon."

Elena nodded, her throat felt tight and she didn't know why, but disappointment swelled up in her chest. "Well, thanks." She said. "For coming to say goodbye, say hello to the cows for me."

Damon gave her a crooked smile. "I will."

He turned around and before Elena could stop herself she yelled. "Damon!"

Damon turned around and before Elena could regret it she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"What was that?" he murmured.

Elena pushed the hair from her face. "That was a goodbye kiss."

-End of Chapter Twenty One-


	22. Fix Me

**Fix Me**

"Katherine, Katherine? Are you all right?"

Katherine snapped back into place and stared at the balding man in front of her, Dr. Rollins, her therapist. As if it wasn't bad enough that everyone was watching her every move, her parents had actually force her to go to a therapist, which wasn't pleasant.

Katherine didn't like Dr. Rollins, he reminded her of all old teddy bear that she used to have as a kid, another stupid memory that keep insisting that she talk about her feelings and struggles as if Katherine wanted to talk to him, much less about something personal.

His office was decorated in shades of baby blue, gray, and white. It reminded her of the ocean and Katherine hated the ocean.

You can do this, she told herself, it's only two days a week and after this you can hang out with Elijah. Her parents and Elijah had agreed that Elijah could pick Katherine up from her therapy sessions and that they could spend some time together.

Katherine was surprise that Elijah even loved her anymore, she had been acting like a brat not to mention that he was a college students and he surely had more important things to worry about than his nervous wreck of a girlfriend. She hadn't exactly treated him nice yesterday.

"Katherine?" Dr. Rollins asked impatiently.

"I'm sorry," Katherine said as she straightened up. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking you a question, we only have an hour Katherine, and I would appreciated it if you tried to focus." Dr. Rollins said ignoring Katherine's evil glare. "Why did you decide to stop eating?"

Again, with this question she had answered it a million times, it was the same answer. "I told you," Katherine said sharply. "I want to become a model and when I was there they told me that I needed to lose some weight and as you can see I went overboard."

Dr. Rollins took off his glasses. "Yes, I'm aware that you told me that, but from what I've seen and from what your family and your boyfriend have told me that before all of this happened you were a very confident girl, cheerleader, beautiful, with a bright future ahead of her. What changed?"

Katherine hated the way that Dr. Rollins was staring at her, like if he wanted to peer into her soul. "People change, I'm not the girl you think I am." Katherine responded coldly.

Dr. Rollins nodded. "And I understand that, people do change and it's normal, but from what I understand during that time frame when they told you that you weren't the kind of right model you were going through some tough times. Your boyfriend was away at college, your parents didn't approve of your dreams and they had their own problems, your sister was away at boarding school, and your other sister was pregnant and lost the baby, evidently you were alone."

"So what are you saying?" Katherine snapped at him.

Dr. Rollins sighed. "I'm saying that perhaps you continuing with your eating disorder is a way to shut the world out, to keep on running because you don't want to face your problems, you want to run away, because you want to avoid facing them. You don't want to end up alone, because you're afraid."

Katherine felt a lump in her throat, what was this guy's problem? She grabbed her purse. "You're wrong." She said shakily. "You don't know anything about me or my family."

Dr. Rollins raised an eyebrow. "Don't I? Then why are you so upset?"

"I-"Katherine couldn't search for the right words. "I have to go, now."

She exited the doctor's office, she felt her throat lock and her eyes burning. She could hardly breathe and her breath was becoming shallow. Was Rollins right? Did she keep starving herself because it gave her a sense of control in her miserable life?

Elijah who had been waiting patiently by the car looked up startled when he saw Katherine's tear strained face. "Babe, what's wrong?"

Katherine didn't answer as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry." She choked out. "I'm sorry."

Elijah rubbed her back even though she knew that was she was saying didn't make any sense, Elijah seemed to get what she was saying. "It's ok, I'm here for you."

* * *

"Once again Miss Pierce I humbly apologize," Headmaster James told her as he folded his hands across the table in his office. Amara had receive a call from the headmaster himself and had taken the first plane out of Mystic Falls to meet him the following morning. "I can assure you that this has never happened in the history of the school and I'm deeply sorry that you were accused unfairly."

"Please headmaster, don't apologize," it took every willpower that Amara had not to smile. She was free now, her name was cleared thanks to Silas.

When she had visited the headmaster that morning, she had no idea what to expect, but she had been pleasantly surprised when he had showed her a recording in where Tessa confessed to placing the weed in her drawer and stealing her short story.

"I have too," Headmaster James said. "I'm sorry to have accused you before but all of the signs pointed to you, thankfully Silas managed to get the proof that we couldn't. You are of course welcome to come back to school any day that you wish, you scholarship has been reinstalled, that is if you still wish to attend Abby Mount."

Amara nodded eagerly. "I do . . . headmaster what will happen to Tessa."

Headmaster James frowned. "Miss Gold has been expelled, Miss Pierce as is no longer on campus, I can assure you that she won't bother you anymore, though I imagine it will be a pleasant change to have a single room."

"Very pleasant." Amara said. "Is that all?"

"That is all," he said. "Thank you for coming, Miss Pierce."

Amara exited the office and immediately ran into Silas who started asking question. "Did it work? Are you back in school, he wouldn't tell me anything-"

"Yes, yes, it worked!" Amara squealed. "I'm coming back, thank you, and thank you."

Silas grinned at her until he noticed Ms. Birdy, Headmaster James assistant glaring at them. "Perhaps we should take our happiness somewhere else."

* * *

Elena had just parked her car and was just about to enter her house when she stopped short. On the porch were a dozen roses and next to them was. "Damon?" she choked out. What was he still doing here?

Damon stood up and gave her the flowers. "Hi."

"I thought you were in California by now."

"My plane doesn't leave for another three hours, it's just I couldn't leave without saying goodbye in my own way," Damon continued. "I love you Elena . . . and I know you probably don't want anything to do with me, and I have tried to forget you, but I can't. I'm in love with you and I know it's unfair of me to ask you to wait while we're miles apart but-"

"I'll wait," Elena interrupted. "Damon, I'm willing to wait."

Damon eyed her. "Really?"

She nodded. "Really, I love you Damon, even after everything I still love you."

Damon cupped her face. "I love you too, my Elena."

-End of Chapter Twenty Two-


	23. Epilogue: Under the Stars

**Epilogue: Under the Stars**

_A Few Months Later. . ._

"This was not how I imagine spending my senior prom, you should have told me that you were coming," Katherine chided Elijah as she passed him back the flask filled with whisky. They were both sitting in the hood of Elijah's car. "I wouldn't have bothered changing into this stupid dress."

Katherine was wearing a strapless, sea blue dress with matching shoes and her curls were extra curly for the occasion. Unlike when she had participated in the Miss Mystic Falls pageant she no longer looked scary skinny and had filled out more.

She was still force to go to therapy with little Dr. Rollins, but she no longer dreaded it as much and he had even been the one that encourage her to focus on designing fashion rather than be an actual model.

Elijah kissed her. "And miss how beautiful you look tonight?"

Katherine smirked at him. "You're smooth." She felt something hard jabbing her rib cage. "What do you have there?"

Elijah flushed as he opened the box and pulled it out, nestled inside was a silver necklace with a heart and pretty red stones. "It's a small present, I saw it at the store and I thought of you."

Katherine smiled at him as she moved it to the side. "Can you help me put it on?"

Elijah nodded. "Sure." He fastened the necklace and Katherine turned back towards him.

Katherine touched the necklace. "Thank you, for everything for being by my side even when I was a mess. Most people wouldn't have."

"It was my pleasure," He murmured as he pulled her close, Katherine nestled her head underneath his chest and gave a sigh of happy relief.

* * *

"Isn't your prom tonight?" Damon asked Elena as he passed her the plate of fries.

"It was, but I got my GED and I've never been one for prom." Elena shrugged, ever since Damon had popped in unexpectedly yesterday, he had a tendency to do this a lot she couldn't stop smiling. She wouldn't lie, the whole long distance thing was hard, but it was moments like this that made it worth it.

"I'm just saying that while the rest of your classmates are dancing to bad music we're at the bowling alley eating French fries and pizza." Damon smirked.

Elena rolled her eyes. "And something tells me that we're having much more fun than they are." She excitedly pulled out a folded piece of paper from her bag. "Here, read this."

Damon smirked. "Is this a love letter?" he unfolded it and started reading. "Dear Miss Elena Gilbert, the University of California Los Angeles is proud to welcome you this fall for. . ."he trailed off. "You're moving to California? L.A.?"

Elena was practically bursting with joy. "Yep, I got the letter yesterday and it's only thirty minutes away from your aunt's ranch-"she didn't even get to finish because Damon had started hugging her tightly. "So I guess this means you're happy?"

"More than happy." He grinned at her. "And I think that we should celebrate with something else other than pizza."

Elena wrinkled her nose. "And somewhere other than a bowling alley."

* * *

"You're extra happy," Silas told Amara as they walked arm in arm through the campus, since it was still a bit chilly the place was mostly empty. "Any reason why, or perhaps you're as ready as I am to leave this hell called high school?"

"Oh, come on," Amara rolled her eyes. "Are you really not going to miss this place?"

After a pause Silas said. "Fine a little, but we still have two weeks until we graduate."

"That's plenty of time," Amara said as they walked towards the soccer fields. She pulled out a ball. "When we first met, you hit me with a soccer ball do you remember."

"Vaguely, but yes." Silas said with a teasing smile.

"Well I challenge you to a game," Amara said. "Whoever scores first wins, and the winner has to kiss the loser."

Silas raised an eyebrow as he pulled her closer. "Is that a promise?"

Amara threw the ball in the air. "That's a promise."

**The End**

Thank you so much to everyone that has supported this story!


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